PROGRAMME 

OF 

A  COURSE  OF  LECTURES 

ON 

LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 

The  Rev.  Cliauncey  Giles  will  deliver  a  Course  of 
Three  Lectures  on  The  Mutual  Interests  and  Rela- 
tions OF  Capital  and  Labor.  This  subject  is  exciting 
a  wide  and  deep  interest  at  the  present  time,  among  all 
classes  of  people,  but  no  more  than  its  intrinsic  impor- 
tance demands.  It  is  intimately  related  to  the  finan- 
cial prosperity  of  individuals  and  the  whole  nation, 
and  to  the  civil,  moral,  and  religious  progress  of  all 

372674 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL, 


classes  of  the  people.  It  is  the  common  opinion  that 
labor  is  a  curse  to  be  avoided  if  possible,  and  that 
there  must  be  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  the 
laborer  and  the  capitalist.  It  is  the  purpose  of  these 
lectures  to  show  that  this  opinion  is  not  true  ;  that, 
on  the  contrary,  labor  is  essential  to  human  happi- 
ness, and  the  Divinely  appointed  means  of  forming 
intelligent  and  noble  character;  that  labor  and  capital 
are  inseparably  connected  by  mutual  interests,  and 
are  dependent  upon  each  other  for  their  value.  The 
subject  will  be  presented,  not  merely  from  a  tempo- 
rary and  financial  point  of  view,  but  in  the  light  of 
universal  principles  which  exist  in  human  nature  and 
govern  all  man's  activities  and  relations  to  his  fellow- 
man  and  to  the  Lord.  The  lectures  are  undertaken 
with  the  hope  that  some  aid  may  be  given  to  the 
solution  of  problems  that  are  now  pressing  upon  the 
attention  of  all  men  with  an  urgency  before  unknown, 
and  which  must  continue  to  do  so  until  they  result 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL, 


in  disastrous  conflict  or  find  a  peaceful  solution  in 
co-operation  for  the  general  good. 

The  Lectures  will  be  delivered  on  successive  Sun- 
day evenings  in  the  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem, 
corner  of  Twenty-second  and  Chestnut  Streets,  to 
which  all  who  are  interested  in  the  subject,  but  es- 
pecially mechanics  and  laboring  men  and  women  of 
every  class,  are  invited.  They  will  find  a  pleasant 
church,  agreeable  music,  polite  attention,  and  a  cor- 
dial welcome.  The  Services  will  commence  promptly 
at  a  quarter  to  eight  o'clock. 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


SUNDAY  EVENING,  FEBRUARY  ist. 

SUBJECT: 

Labor  as  a  Curse,  and  as  a  Blessing.    How  to  avoid 
the  Curse  and  secure  the  Blessing. 


SUNDAY  EVENING,  FEBRUARY  8th. 

SUBJECT: 

The  Conflict  between  Labor  and  Capital.  The 
Cause  of  it  \  the  Evil  of  it ;  the  Means  of  Set- 
tling it. 

SUNDAY  EVENING,  FEBRUARY  isth. 

SUBJECT 

Manual  Labor  and  Mechanical  Employments  as 
Means  of  Human  Culture. 


The   seats  in  this  Church   are  free  to  all, 
both  morning  and  evening. 


Sleventti  Series.   No.  1. 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE  AND  AS  A  BLESSING, 

BY  KEY.  CHAUNCEY  GILES. 


The  subject  to  which  I  invite  your  attention  this  even- 
ing, touches  the  interests  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child. 
It  enters  into  the  daily  life  of  humanity.  Labor  con- 
stitutes the  warp  and  woof  of  every  industry  and  every 
human  good.  It  is  not  merely  a  question  of  bread,  or  of 
dollars  and  cents.  It  has  a  wider  and  deeper  meaning 
^  than  more  or  less  abundance  of  clothes  or  acres.  It  is  the 
Q%  corner-stone  of  social,  civil,  and  religious  progress.  It  is 
a  question  of  how  to  employ  our  time,  to  use  our  strength, 
to  exercise  our  thought,  to  direct  our  affections  in  the 
wisest  way  to  supply  our  natural  wants,  and  to  secure  the 
means  of  comfort,  happiness,  and  the  development  of  the 
noblest  human  faculties.  It  is  not,  therefore,  a  question 
inappropriate  to  the  day,  and  to  a  house  dedicated  to  the 
worship  and  service  of  the  Lord.  It  confronts  the  indi- 
vidual, the  state,  and  the  church  at  every  step,  and  presses 
for  solution.  It  involves  every  effort  to  lighten  human 
burdens,  to  alleviate  human  suffering,  and  to  secure  the 
border,  comfort,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  the  people. 
It  is  not  my  intention  to  speak  of  organizations  for  the 
protection  and  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the  laborer, 


9 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


or  of  the  bearing  of  national  or  State  legislation  upon  the 
subject.  They  have  their  influence  and  use.  I  propose 
rather  to  speak  of  labor  in  its  application  to  the  individual, 
to  what  every  man  and  every  woman  can  do,  to-day,  in  the 
present  circumstances,  in  every  condition,  to  remove  the 
curse  from  labor,  and  gain  its  greatest  and  most  enduring 
rewards.  It  is  my  purpose  to  point  out  some  remedies  for 
the  hardships  which  we  all  suffer,  and  which  we  can  apply 
to  our  work,  to-morrow,  and  every  day  of  our  lives.  No 
combination  of  men  can  prevent  the  greatest  curse  of  labor, 
no  legislation  can  avert  its  evils  or  secure  its  greatest  good. 
Let  us  then  try  to  discover  what  the  evils  are  that  we 
desire  to  remove,  and  then  we  may  be  able  to  discover 
their  remedies. 

Strictly  speaking,  labor  is  not  a  curse  or  an  evil  in  any 
sense.  It  is  a  blessing,  not  merely  in  its  reward  of  wages, 
but  in  itself.  Even  in  its  most  oppressive  forms  it  is  better 
than  idleness.  This  is  the  testimony  of  history  and  of 
individual  experience  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  and  of  the 
Lord  Himself.  It  exists  in  the  nature  of  the  human  mind, 
and  is  organized  in  every  part  of  the  material  body.  Look 
at  a  man  from  his  limbs,  his  muscles,  his  brain,  his  senses, 
his  intellect,  his  affections.  What  was  he  endowed  with 
this  miraculous  organization  for  ?  What  was  he  made  for  ? 
To  be  idle?  To  eat  and  drink  and  sleep  like  an  animal? 
Was  the  hand,  that  miracle  of  mechanism  and  power,  made 
merely  to  use  a  spoon  and  wear  gloves  ?  to  be  kept  white 
and  soft  like  a  baby's?  What  was  every  organ  in  the 
body  made  for  ?  Was  it  not  for  man's  happiness  ?  How 
is  he  to  secure  the  intended  good  ?  By  use,  by  action,  by 
labor.  There  is  no  other  possible  way.  Action  is  the  law 
of  life ;  it  is  the  effect  and  sign  of  life ;  it  is  the  means  of 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING, 


3 


gaining  larger  measures  of  life  ;  it  is  the  essential  instru- 
ment of  perfecting  life. 

The  higher  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  being  the  more  irre- 
pressible the  activity.  Let  us  learn  a  lesson  from  nature. 
The  stone  is  motionless.  It  cannot  change  its  form  or 
place.  Would  you  like  to  be  a  stone  ?  The  plant,  though 
unconscious  and  anchored  to  the  earth,  is  alive  and  full  of 
action,  and  grows  into  a  multitude  of  useful  and  beautiful 
forms.  Here  is  more  life,  more  action,  and  greater  use. 
But  would  this  satisfy  you  ?  Would  you  like  to  be  an 
apple-tree  or  a  lily,  though  it  neither  toils  nor  spins  ?  The 
animal  stands  in  a  higher  grade  of  life.  It  can  see,  hear, 
feel,  move,  and  act  in  many  ways  impossible  to  the  plant. 
But  would  it  content  you  to  be  an  oyster  or  an  ox  ?  As 
we  rise  to  man  we  find  a  distinct  and  higher  class  of  facul- 
ties. His  range  of  action  is  vastly  enlarged.  He  has 
more  tools  to  work  with,  more  labor  to  perform,  and  he 
gains  larger  and  richer  rewards.  Every  step  of  ascent  in 
the  scale  of  being  demands  greater  and  more  varied  labor 
by  which  we  obtain  a  higher  good.  No  living  creature  is 
exempt  from  work.  The  worm  and  the  fish  and  the  animal 
must  labor.  Action  in  some  form  is  the  condition  of  exist- 
ence. The  fowls  of  the  air  on  swift  wings  are  constantly 
searching  for  food,  and  often  they  must  go  supperless  to 
bed.  A  wild  animal  which  has  no  master  and  is  free  to  go 
and  come,  the  idea  which  many  entertain  of  a  happy  life, 
must  keep  on  the  alert  for  its  dinner,  or  go  without  it. 
If  man  had  never  sinned  he  could  have  found  his  happi- 
ness only  in  useful  occupation.  Every  muscle  in  his  body, 
and  every  faculty  of  his  mind  reveals  that  fact  more  clearly 
than  words  have  the  power  to  do.  The  necessity  for  labor 
is  organized  in  our  minds  and  in  every  fibre  of  our  bodies. 


4 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


If  we  could  be  fed  with  every  luxury  without  lifting  a 
finger ;  if  we  could  be  clothed  like  the  lilies  and  housed 
like  a  prince,  without  any  effort,  we  could  not  live  without 
labor,  because  all  our  faculties  are  not  only  created  by  use, 
but  their  existence  cannot  be  maintained  without  it,  conse- 
quently every  one,  whatever  may  be  his  condition  in  life, 
must  work.  If  he  is  not  compelled  by  the  necessity  of 
earning  his  bread,  he  is  driven  by  a  sterner  necessity  to 
labor  for  pleasure,  for  digestion,  and  even  for  existence, 
and  this  is  the  most  degrading  of  all  work.  Labor  viewed 
in  itself  is  a  law  of  the  Divine  order.  It  has  its  origin  in 
the  Divine  perfections,  it  is  universal  in  its  application,  it 
is  the  means  to  every  good.  This  is  the  positive  and  un- 
changing fact. 

But  the  idea  is  common,  well-nigh  universal,  that  labor 
in  some  useful  employment  is  a  curse.  Keligious  teachers 
represent  it  as  a  penalty  inflicted  upon  man  for  disobedi- 
ence to  the  Lord,  in  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  they 
picture  heaven  as  a  state  of  everlasting  and  constant  rest. 
Poetry,  painting,  and  fiction  represent  a  happy  life  as  free 
from  all  useful  and  regular  employment.  To  be  surrounded 
with  everything  that  can  minister  to  pleasure ;  to  possess 
abundance  of  wealth  which  relieves  from  the  necessity  of 
labor,  commands  the  services  of  others,  enables  its  possessor 
to  remain  at  home  in  idleness  and  indulgence,  or  to  roam 
abroad,  as  inclination  may  dictate,  is  the  common  ideal  of 
happiness.  The  man  who  threw  down  his  shovel  and  de- 
clared that  he  would  never  do  another  stroke  of  work,  when 
informed  that  he  had  become  heir  to  great  wealth,  expressed 
in  a  most  emphatic  manner  the  common  sentiment  which  per- 
vades literature,  controls  feeling,  enters  the  general  thought, 
and  infiuences  the  opinions  of  all  classes  of  people.    It  is 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING. 


5 


a  totally  false  view.  It  originates  in  human  selfishness  and 
ignorance,  and  confounds  the  evils  which  are  caused  by  the 
abuse  of  a  good  thing  with  the  thing  itself.  This  is  as 
absurd  as  it  would  be  to  condemn  delicious  food  as  wholly 
evil  because  some  men  destroy  their  health  by  gluttony,  or 
to  regard  fire  as  man's  enemy  because  it  sometimes  burns 
his  flesh  and  consumes  his  house.  Let  us,  then,  distin- 
guish between  the  use  and  the  abuse,  between  the  good 
and  the  evil  of  labor,  and  discover,  if  we  can,  how  to  avoid 
the  evil  and  secure  the  good. 

The  curse  of  labor  does  not  consist  in  action,  for  it  is  only 
in  action  that  we  experience  pleasure.  Children  are  intensely 
active  ;  they  work  harder  than  their  parents.  They  are  con- 
stantly busy,  and  it  is  impossible  to  keep  them  still.  Weari- 
ness from  hard  work  is  not  the  curse  of  labor.  Men  will  hunt 
and  fish  and  play  ball,  and  men  and  women  will  dance  and 
climb  mountains,  and  wander  from  city  to  city  to  see  old 
and  new  wonders,  until  they  are  ready  to  faint  from  weari- 
ness. Necessity  does  not  drive  them.  No  taskmaster 
stands  over  them  with  a  whip.  They  expect  no  wages ; 
yet  they  do  not  complain.  They  do  not  regard  the  ex- 
hausting labor  as  a 'curse.  They  rejoice  rather  in  the  ex- 
ertion. If  weariness  is  the  curse  of  labor,  why  should  the 
child  run  from  one  thing  to  another  until  ready  to  drop 
from  exhaustion  ?  Why  should  men  and  women  pursue 
pleasure  until  they  faint  from  weariness,  and  expose 
themselves  to  dangers  which  rarely  exist  in  any  useful 
employments  ? 

The  answer  is  not  difficult  to  find.  They  are  led  on  by 
some  delight,  or  the  hope  of  gaining  it.  Suppose  the 
laborer  could  find  the  same  pleasure  in  his  work,  would  it 
not  take  the  curse  out  of  it  ?    Some  men  and  women  do 


6 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


find  such  a  delight  in  their  occupations,  and  they  are 
happy  when  engaged  in  tbem.  They  do  not  work  from 
any  compulsion  by  others  ;  they  do  not  work  for  the  wages. 
They  do  not  consider  them.  They  are  led  along  by  delight 
in  their  work,  or  in  the  use  it  may  be  to  those  they  love. 
The  mother  does  not  think  of  the  wages  when  she  is  work- 
ing for  her  child.  She  will  watch  and  wait  and  minister 
with  the  utmost  patience.  Cannot  this  principle  be  applied 
to  all  employments, — to  cutting  stone,  to  mining  coal,  to 
making  a  shoe,  to  building  a  house,  or  doing  anything 
that  will  be  of  service  to  any  human  being  ?  Observe,  it 
is  not  the  special  thing  done.  That  may  be  repulsive  in 
itself.  Who  has  more  repulsive  work  to  do  than  the 
mother  ?  And  yet  she  finds  a  pleasure  in  it.  It  is  the 
motive  for  which  it  is  done.  It  is  not  the  personal  good 
she  gains,  but  the  service  she  renders.  Cannot  that 
motive  be  extended  ?  Can  it  not  enter  into  all  labor  of 
every  kind  ? 

But  there  are  real  evils  connected  with  labor.  It  be- 
comes an  evil  when  it  hinders  the  attainment  of  the  pur- 
pose for  which  man  was  created.  It  does  this  when  it 
is  too  long  protracted  and  exhausting,  when  it  absorbs 
all  our  time  and  strength.  Then  it  becomes  merely 
animal,  the  exercise  of  muscles.  The  higher  and  truly 
human  faculties  are  not  brought  into  exercise.  A  man  is 
more  than  an  animal  to  be  fed,  a  horse  or  an  ox  to  bear 
burdens.  He  possesses  higher  qualities  than  instinct.  He 
has  a  mind  to  whose  capacity  for  knowing  there  are  no 
assignable  limits  ;  he  has  afi'ections  capable  of  indefinite 
enlargement,  refinement,  and  happiness.  Any  employ- 
ment which  keeps  him  down  to  the  level  of  the  beast  of 
burden,  which  allows  him  no  time  or  means  of  developing 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING. 


7 


his  higher  nature,  is  a  curse.  This  has  been  and  still  is 
too  much  the  hard  condition  of  the  laborer.  Worldly 
greed  desires  to  get  the  most  labor  for  the  least  pay,  to 
get  the  largest  results  in  the  least  time,  and  the  laborer  is 
held  as  many  hours  and  to  as  much  work  as  can  be  wrung 
from  him.  It  is  a  much  greater  evil  than  weariness, 
coarse  garments,  and  simple  fare.  To  the  extent  of  its 
influence  it  defeats  the  end  for  which  man  was  created. 
It  prevents  or  hinders  the  development  of  his  noblest 
faculties,  keeps  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body  servile,  and 
bars  his  entrance  into  the  enjoyment  of  the  richest  posses- 
sions of  his  inheritance.  The  time  must  come  when  the 
cry  of  the  most  common  laborer  will  be  "  bread,"  not  for 
the  body  only,  but  for  the  mind  and  the  soul. 

This  great  evil  has  already  been  somewhat  mitigated  by 
shortening  the  hours  of  labor.  One  remedy  for  it  will  be 
found  in  machinery.  Mechanical  power  has  already  taken 
off  a  strain  from  human  muscles  which  they  could  not 
bear.  There  is  not  sufficient  physical  power  in  the  world 
to  do  the  present  work  of  the  world.  The  farmer,  the 
mechanic,  the  seamstress,  the  cook,  the  manufacturer,  find 
iron  muscles  and  tireless  fingers  doing  their  work.  Con- 
veniences and  quick  and  easy  methods  of  every  kind  are 
multiplied  to  lift  the  burdens  of  labor,  and  carry  the  laborer 
to  and  fro  from  his  work.  The  horse-car  and  the  railway 
are  rendering  inestimable  service  to  him,  a  service  which 
he  would  soon  appreciate  if  it  were  suspended.  Instead 
of  swinging  the  scythe,  and  bending  to  the  ground  to  reap 
the  harvest  by  the  handful  with  the  sickle,  the  farmer  now 
rides  round  his  fields,  and  the  grass  and  the  grain  fall  down 
before  him  as  in  worship.  Instead  of  swinging  "  the  weary 
flinging-tree,"  as  Burns  calls  the  flail,  from  morning  to 


8 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


night,  to  thresh  out  a  few  bushels  of  wheat,  and  then  win- 
nowing the  chaff  from  it  with  a  fan,  the  threshing-machine 
does  the  work  of  many  men  in  an  hour. 

By  means  of  these  instruments  of  skill  and  power  pro- 
duction is  indefinitely  multiplied.  The  first  efi'ect  may 
operate  against  the  workman.  It  may  throw  him  out  of 
his  special  employment,  and  before  he  has  had  time  and 
skill  to  adjust  himself  to  new  conditions,  it  may  take  the 
bread  from  his  mouth.  Consequently  we  find  that  every 
improvement  in  methods  of  work,  every  substitution  of 
material  forces  for  human  muscles,  has  been  opposed.  The 
laborer  has  fought  against  the  friend  that  has  come  to  bear 
his  burdens,  to  give  strength  to  his  hands  and  swiftness  to 
his  feet.  It  is  a  blind  unconscious  force  that  simply  asks 
to  be  guided,  and  the  privilege  of  working  for  man  with 
tireless  energy.  The  final  result  must  be  lighter  labor  and 
fewer  hours  of  work,  more  time  for  gaining  knowledge  and 
cultivating  the  social,  moral,  and  distinctly  human  faculties. 
The  application  of  natural  forces  to  overcoming  the  dead 
resistance  of  matter  and  moulding  its  stubborn  substance 
into  forms  adapted  to  human  service,  is  one  of  the  most 
efficient  instruments  in  working  out  man's  redemption  from 
exhausting  physical  toil.  The  change  will  be  slow,  as  all 
great  changes  are.  We  may  not  see  clearly  how  the  good 
in  the  fulness  of  its  relief  and  power  is  to  come.  But  it 
surely  will  come.  It  has  come  in  many  incidental  and 
unnoticed  ways  which  lift  our  burdens  and  minister  to  our 
comfort  and  ease.  If  tlie  methods  of  industry  were  forced 
back  from  the  modern  plough  to  the  spade  or  sharp  stick, 
from  the  power-loom  to  the  weaver's  shuttle,  from  the  saw 
and  plane,  the  mighty  hammer  and  rolling-mill  propelled 
by  steam,  to  the  old  tools  driven  by  human  muscles,  the 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING. 


9 


most  common  laborer  would  begin  to  appreciate  the  ser- 
vice of  modern  inventions. 

But  the  greatest  evil  and  the  bitterest  curse  that  rests 
upon  labor  is  the  prevalent  feeling  that  it  is  menial  and 
degrading.  One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  slavery  consisted 
in  the  fact  that  it  made  useful  labor  disreputable.  The 
work  and  the  workman  were  associated,  and  the  social 
position  of  the  laborer  gave  character  to  his  work.  He 
was  a  slave,  therefore  his  employment  was  regarded  as  ser- 
vile and  debasing.  This  feeling  has  extended  to  physical 
labor  in  every  form.  It  has  degraded  the  laborer  in  his 
own  eyes,  and  tended  to  make  him  servile  in  spirit.  This 
false  estimate  of  labor,  born  of  the  love  of  self  and  the 
world  and  intensified  by  it,  has  had  a  powerful  influence 
in  leading  men  and  women  to  escape  from  it. 

Multitudes  work  like  slaves  all  their  lives ;  they  pinch 
and  screw  and  deny  themselves  comforts  and  the  means  of 
culture,  and  let  all  their  higher  faculties  remain  unculti- 
vated, to  accumulate  the  means  of  living  without  labor. 
They  work  to  avoid  work.  They  make  slaves  of  themselves 
to  escape  from  service.  How  often  do  we  hear  the  remark 
about  those  who  have  been  successful  in  business  or  fallen 
heir  to  a  large  estate,  "  He  has  enough  to  support  him 
handsomely.  It  is  not  necessary  for  him  to  do  another 
stroke  of  work."  Enviable  position  !  Nothing  to  do  but 
to  take  his  ease,  to  eat  and  drink  and  be  merry.  Multi- 
tudes are  striving  and  hoping  to  become  independent.  But 
it  is  a  vain  hope.  No  human  being  ever  was  or  ever  can 
be  independent.  The  richest  and  most  powerful  man  in 
the  world  is  as  dependent  as  the  day  laborer.  Nay,  more ; 
he  is  dependent  upon  the  laborer.  The  crowding  into 
trades  and  professions,  and  the  desire  to  accumulate  riches 


10 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


rapidly  are  created  and  inflamed  into  a  passion  by  the  desire 
to  be  raised  above  the  necessity  of  manual  labor,  and  to 
command  the  luxuries  and  pleasures  of  life  without  physi- 
cal exertion.  Success  in  these  eiForts  is  called  good  fortune, 
rising  in  the  world.  This  feeling  prevails  in  church  and 
state,  it  enters  into  every  household,  and  influences  with 
more  or  less  power  every  heart,  and  is  a  curse  in  its  in- 
fluence upon  every  one  who  cherishes  it. 

Another  evil  which  grows  out  of  this  is  a  depreciation 
of  the  value  of  labor  and  a  struggle  to  get  its  service  for 
the  least  compensation.  False  opinion  says  it  is  menial,  it 
is  degrading,  it  is  mere  force,  it  is  on  a  level  with  the 
engine  and  the  ox.  Why  should  we  not  gain  this  power 
just  as  cheap  as  possible,  as  we  would  the  power  of  an 
engine  by  economy  in  fuel?  Because  a  man  is  not  an  engine 
or  an  ox.  Because  there  is  something  in  him  more  precious 
than  brute  force,  something  more  vital  to  every  national  and 
human  interest  than  skill  of  hand  or  power  of  machine.  In 
this  false  view  of  labor  the  man  is  overlooked.  The  end  for 
which  all  things  are  created  is  disregarded.  The  wheat 
is  lost,  and  the  chaff  only  is  gathered. 

How  is  this  evil  to  be  removed?  By  forcing  larger 
wages?  By  getting  a  larger  market?  By  enticing  to 
larger  consumption  ?  These  means  may  help  ;  they  may 
be  necessary  as  instruments,  but  they  can  never  succeed 
in  removing  the  causes  that  render  labor  a  curse.  Wages 
cannot  be  forced  long  beyond  their  real  value.  There  is  a 
limit  to  human  consumption  and  ability  to  purchase,  and 
that  must  limit  production  and  compensation.  There  will 
be  fluctuations,  but  there  are  laws  above  human  legislation 
or  control  which  will  in  the  end  settle  the  question.  There 
are  principles  higher  than  wages,  more  potent  than  the 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING. 


11 


love  of  money,  or  ease,  or  power  for  selfish  purposes ; 
^  more  efi'ective  than  legislation,  or  combinations  of  any 
kind.  So  great  a  work  can  only  be  accomplished  by  prin- 
ciples that  are  organized  in  the  constitution  of  the  human 
mind,  and  which  must  be  gradual  in  effecting  results. 

How  is  it  then  to  be  done  ?  How  can  manual  and  pro- 
ductive labor  be  elevated  above  menial  service?  It  can 
only  be  done  by  the  worker.  To  the  drudge  every  form 
of  labor  is  drudgery.  A  servile  spirit  makes  the  most 
useful  work  servile.  It  can  be  done,  and  only  done,  by 
putting  higher  motives  and  a  deeper  interest  in  the  work 
itself.  If  we  only  regard  the  wages  and  our  work  merely 
as  a  means  of  gaining  subsistence,  we  shall  think  mainly  of 
them.  Our  interest  will  not  be  in  our  work,  but  in  our 
pay.  The  less  work  for  the  same  pay  the  better.  This 
motive  leads  to  poor  work,  to  as  little  as  possible.  The 
work  itself  is  regarded  as  a  curse,  to  be  avoided.  Every 
form  of  human  labor  is  a  drudgery,  in  which  we  take  no 
interest  and  find  no  pleasure.  The  work  we  are  engaged 
in  may  be  uncongenial  to  our  tastes,  it  may  be  naturally 
repulsive,  and  we  may  be  compelled,  by  force  of  circum- 
stances, to  remain  in  it.  But  there  is  no  useful  employ- 
ment which  may  not  become  the  means  of  waking  interest 
and  calling  our  intellectual  faculties  into  play.  Every  one 
can  strive  to  do  his  work  well,  and  just  in  the  degree  that 
he  does  that,  his  labor  will  cease  to  be  servile. 

He  is  seeking  to  obtain  excellence,  and  that  is  a  noble 
motive,  and  ennobles  every  man  and  woman  who  cherishes 
it.  It  is  of  no  consequence  what  the  outward  work  is.  It 
may  be  the  most  menial  employment  in  the  eyes  of  men. 
If  a  man  can  find  nothing  to  do  but  sweep  the  streets,  if 
he  has  a  soul  above  the  dust,  he  can  say  to  himself,  I  will 


12 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


handle  my  broom  with  as  much  skill,  and  make  every  spot 
I  touch  as  clean  as  possible.  In  the  sight  of  Him  who 
looks  only  at  our  motives,  and  who  has  declared  that  "  he 
that  is  f^iithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in 
much,"  he  is  doing  a  more  noble  work  than  the  man  who 
writes  a  book,  paints  a  picture,  or  rules  a  state,  merely  for  his 
own  glory.  If  we  are  making  a  shoe  or  a  coat,  forging  a  tool, 
constructing  an  engine,  or  building  a  ship,  or  selling  goods, 
let  us  do  our  best.  Let  us  try  to  excel  in  it.  Let  us  try 
to  do  better  work  to-day  than  we  did  yesterday.  This  pur- 
pose will  keep  the  thoughts  bright,  the  affections  alive.  It 
will  lead  to  advancement. 

Many  years  ago,  a  man  in  one  of  our  Eastern  cities 
rose  from  poverty  to  great  wealth  by  wise  commercial  en- 
terprises. One  day  he  was  talking  with  a  man  who  was  a 
poor  boy  with  himself,  and  who  had  remained  so.  At  some 
remark  which  roused  the  poor  man's  envy,  he  said,  "  You 
need  not  take  such  airs  upon  yourself.  I  knew  you  when 
you  were  only  a  drummer."  He  retorted,  quick  as  a  flash, 
"  Didn't  I  drum  well?  Didn't  I  drum  well  ?"  There  is 
a  profound  principle  in  his  answer.  I  say  to  every  man 
and  woman,  whatever  your  position,  "  Drum  well !  drum 
well  !"  Whatever  position  you  occupy,  whatever  work  is 
given  you,  do  it  well.  Do  it  according  to  the  best  of  your 
ability.  It  will  ennoble  you  and  give  dignity  to  your  work, 
and  it  will  yield  you  a  more  precious  reward  than  your  wages, 
and  it  will  not  diminish  them. 

But  there  is  a  higher,  a  purer,  a  nobler  and  a  more  en- 
nobling motive  than  the  desire  to  excel  in  your  vocation. 
You  may  do  that  from  a  desire  to  excel  others  rather  than  to 
excel  in  the  product  of  your  hands.  You  can  do  your  work 
from  regard  to  the  good  of  others.  Whatever  your  employ- 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING. 


13 


ment  may  be,  however  trivial  it  may  seem,  however  weak 
and  poor  and  unskilled  you  may  be,  whatever  your  hand 
finds  to  do,  you  can  do  it  from  a  desire  to  be  useful.  As 
this  is  the  highest,  or  next  to  the  highest,  motive  from 
which  men  or  angels  can  act,  so  it  is  the  most  universal  in 
its  application.  It  comes  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest 
as  well  as  the  richest,  of  the  weakest  as  well  as  the  strong- 
est, of  the  least  skilled  as  well  as  the  most  expert.  It  is  a 
living  and  constant  motive.  It  is  not  limited  to  special 
occasions  or  special  work.  It  runs  through  the  day,  and 
through  the  year ;  it  abides  when  you  eat  and  rest  as  a 
pure  and  elevating  presence.    It  gives  strength  and  skill. 

Every  one  knows  that  we  can  do  best  what  we  love  to 
do.  All  the  faculties  are  kept  fresh  and  alive  by  the  affec- 
tion. Every  one  knows  that  the  mind  is  peaceful  and 
happy  when  we  are  doing  something  with  the  purpose  of 
contributing  to  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  others.  On 
special  occasions  we  do  work  for  others  with  this  purpose. 
Why  should  we  not  always  do  it  ?  You  are  making  a  shoe, 
or  a  garment.  Instead  of  doing  it  in  a  listless,  servile 
manner,  thinking  of  your  wages  and  wishing  you  could 
get  more  for  less  work,  why  not  lift  your  thought  from 
yourself,  and  let  it  pass  on  to  the  wearer  ?  It  is  to  be  pro- 
tection and  comfort  to  some  one.  Put  protection  and  com- 
fort into  it.  You  know  how  pleasant  it  is  to  have  a  good 
shoe,  a  well-fitting  dress.  Think  of  your  own  satisfaction 
and  try  to  give  it  to  others.  If  you  are  sweeping  a  room, 
or  making  a  bed,  or  cooking  a  meal,  think  of  the  comfort 
and  pleasure  of  others  while  doing  it,  and  do  it  in  a  man- 
ner to  give  them  as  much  pleasure  as  possible.  This  will 
make  you  a  sharer  in  their  comfort.  In  the  well-served 
meal  and  the  tidy  room  you  will  no  longer  be  a  drudge. 


14 


LABOR  AS  A  CURSE, 


You  put  yourself  on  an  equality  with  those  you  serve,  per- 
haps rise  above  them. 

This  working  with  noble  purpose  costs  nothing ;  it  does 
not  diminish  your  wages ;  it  does  not  waste  your  strength  ; 
it  does  not  impoverish  you  in  any  respect.  It  does  not 
lessen  your  chances  of  constant  employment.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  helps  you  merely  as  a  laborer.  It  will  increase 
your  chances  of  employment ;  it  will  add  to  your  strength 
and  skill,  and  consequently  will  increase  your  wages,  and, 
what  is  more  valuable,  it  will  make  you  happy  in  your 
work.  It  is  the  curse  of  labor  that  men  and  women  do 
not  find  their  happiness  in  it.  They  regard  it  almost 
wholly  as  a  means  imposed  by  stern  necessity,  of  gaining 
happiness  in  spending  the  wages  they  earn,  or  in  freeing 
themselves  from  the  necessity  of  useful  employment; 
whereas,  if  they  would  put  love  for  otbers  into  it,  they 
would  find  their  pleasure  in  it.  Their  work  would  be- 
come the  instrument  of  accomplishing  the  end  they  sought. 
Every  stitch  of  the  needle,  every  stroke  of  the  hammer, 
every  step  taken,  and  every  word  spoken  would  be  in  its 
measure  a  success.  Would  not  that  take  the  servility,  the 
drudgery,  the  feeling  of  inferiority  out  of  labor  ?  It  is 
no  longer  labor ;  it  is  sport,  it  is  play.  It  is  the  means  of 
accomplishing  our  purposes. 

When  a  man  does  his  work  from  regard  to  the  good  of 
others,  according  to  the  Divine  standard,  he  rises  to  the 
highest  position.  He  becomes  a  philanthropist,  a  lover  of 
man  ;  he  becomes  the  peer  of  the  best  men.  He  may  use  the 
same  tools  and  work  in  the  same  shop  as  the  man  who  labors 
only  with  his  hands  for  bread,  but  his  hammer  and  chisel 
and  plough  are  glorified  with  a  new  purpose;  they  are 
wielded  for  the  good  of  humanity.    His  work  is  still  ser- 


AND  AS  A  BLESSING. 


15 


vice,  but  not  servile.  It  is  honorable  service  because  ren- 
dered with  honorable  purpose.  It  is  noble  work  because 
it  is  the  embodiment  of  noble  motives,  and  the  motive 
ennobles  the  deed  and  the  doer. 

Every  man  who  labors  in  this  spirit  is  a  public  bene- 
factor ;  he  looks  to  the  common  good  and  contributes  to  it. 
He  adds  something  to  the  commonwealth  ;  the  people  are 
richer  for  his  work.  He  has  increased  the  means  of  human 
happiness.  He  also  is  a  gainer  by  it.  He  will  receive  a 
reward  for  his  day's  work  whose  value  cannot  be  estimated 
in  dollars  and  cents.  He  has  exercised  the  highest  facul- 
ties of  his  nature ;  he  has  become  more  of  a  man  ;  he  has 
enlarged  his  own  capacities  for  happiness;  he  has  been 
happy  in  his  work,  and  he  is  happy  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  good  it  will  do.  Every  man  who  labors  in  this  spirit 
is  doing  works  of  charity  every  day.  He  is  feeding  the 
hungry,  clothing  the  naked,  ministering  to  the  sick,  giving 
freedom  to  the  bound,  and  fulfilling  the  law  of  kindness. 

It  may  be  replied  that  every  man  and  woman  who  labors 
faithfully  in  any  useful  employment,  is  working  for  the 
public  good  however  selfish  may  be  the  motives.  This  is 
true ;  but  every  one  fails  of  gaining  the  highest  reward  of 
his  labor  who  does  not  put  the  highest  motives  into  it. 
It  is  one  of  the  saddest  facts  in  the  world  that  men  and 
women  labor  so  hard  and  fail  of  receiving  the  greatest 
benefit  of  their  work  because  they  bring  into  action  only 
the  lower  faculties  of  their  natures ;  they  put  no  love  to 
God  or  man  into  it ;  they  exercise  no  moral  faculty,  and 
they  gain  no  moral  and  heavenly  reward. 

This  high  purpose  lies  within  the  reach  of  every  one. 
Multitudes  of  men  and  women  may  not  be  able  to  work 
with  much  skill,  they  may,  by  force  of  necessity,  be  com- 


16      LABOR  AS  A  CURSE  AND  BLESSING. 

pelled  to  labor  in  employments  that  are  rev^^^^^o^^^ 
natural  tastes,  but  they  can  put  this  love  o  ^od  and  man 
into  their  work.  It  will  not  hinder  their  labor,  it  will  not 
ti  st  its  natural  rewards.  No  taskmaster,  no  pow. 
of  legislation  can  prevent  them  from  working  with  th  s 
nobk  heavenly  purpose.  The  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers 
0  water  he  iivites  and  Hittites  of  humanity  can  put  love 

ctas  than  gold  c  purchase,  with  ,«»  »  »»» 
Tork  to.n..rr.w.    It  will  take  tie  cse  ..t  of     -t  ..1 
I,  ii  .  ble,>i»g  to  youraelves,  and  aeeordiog  to  lie 
rite  of  tusffi-lJ.  t.  ,o„  f.»me.,  to  en- 

ployers,  and  to  humanity. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
NEW  CHURCH  TIUCT  AM  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY. 

TWENTY-SKCONl)  AND  OUESTNUT  StiIECTS. 

HSW  TOM:  E.  I.  SWISNEY,  So.  20  COOPKR  TOIOS. 
BOSTOS:  «SSiOH)S«TS        CHmCI  Um.  169  TEMOH  STRffl. 

Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  Philadelplua. 


Eleventh  Series,  No. 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  LABOR  AND  CAP- 
ITAL. ITS  CAUSE  AND  REMEDY, 

BY  KEY.  CHAUNCEY  GILES. 


The  question  we  propose  to  consider  this  evening  is  ex- 
citing deep  interest  at  the  present  time,  but  no  more  than 
its  importance  demands.  It  is  one  of  the  hopeful  signs  of 
the  times  that  these  subjects  of  vital  interest  to  human 
happiness  are  constantly  coming  up  for  a  hearing,  are  en- 
gaging the  attention  of  the  wisest  men,  and  stirring  the 
minds  of  all  classes  of  people.  The  wide  prevalence  of 
this  movement  shows  that  a  new  life  is  beating  in  the  heart 
of  humanity,  operating  upon  their  faculties  like  the  warm 
breath  of  spring  upon  the  frozen  ground  and  the  dormant 
germs  of  the  plant.  It  will  make  a  great  stir,  it  will  break 
up  many  frozen  and  dead  forms,  it  will  produce  great  and 
in  some  cases,  it  may  be,  destructive  changes,  but  it  an- 
nounces the  blossoming  of  new  hopes,  and  the  coming  of 
new  harvests  for  the  supply  of  human  wants  and  the  means 
of  greater  happiness.  There  is  great  need  of  wisdom  to  guide 
the  new  forces  coming  into  action.  Every  man  is  under 
the  most  solemn  obligations  to  do  his  part  in  forming  a 
correct  public  opinion  and  giving  wise  direction  to  popular 
will.  It  is  with  the  purpose  of  contributing  my  mite  to 
this  work  that  I  have  undertaken  these  lectures. 

Thf:  only  solution  for  the  problems  of  labor,  of  want, 


2 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN 


of  abundance,  of  suffering,  and  sorrow  can  only  be  found 
by  regarding  them  from  a  moral  and  spiritual  point  of 
view.  They  must  be  seen  and  examined  in  a  light  that 
is  not  of  themselves.  The  true  relations  of  labor  and 
capital  can  never  be  discovered  by  human  selfishness. 
They  must  be  viewed  from  a  higher  purpose  than  wages 
or  the  accumulation  of  wealth.  They  must  be  regarded 
from  their  bearing  upon  the  purposes  for  which  man  was 
created.  It  is  from  this  point  of  view  I  propose  to  con- 
sider the  subject  before  us. 

Capital  and  labor  are  essential  to  each  other.  Their  in- 
terests are  so  bound  together  that  they  cannot  be  separated. 
In  civilized  and  enlighted  communities  they  are  mutually 
dependent.  If  there  is  any  difference,  capital  is  more  de- 
pendent upon  labor  than  labor  upon  capital.  Life  can  be 
sustained  without  capital.  Animals,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
have  no  property,  and  take  no  anxious  thought  for  the 
morrow,  and  our  Lord  commends  them  to  our  notice  as 
examples  worthy  of  imitation.  "  Behold  the  fowls  of  the 
air,"  He  says,  "  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap  nor 
gather  into  barns,  yet  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them." 
The  savage  lives  without  capital.  Indeed,  the  great  mass 
of  human  beings  live  by  their  labor  from  day  to  day,  from 
hand  to  mouth.  But  no  man  can  live  upon  his  wealth. 
He  cannot  eat  his  gold  and  silver  ;  he  cannot  clothe  himself 
with  deeds  and  certificates  of  stock.  Capital  can  do  noth- 
ing without  labor,  and  its  only  value  consists  in  its  power 
to  purchase  labor  or  its  results.  It  is  itself  the  product 
of  labor.  It  has  no  occasion,  therefore,  to  assume  an  im- 
portance that  docs  not  belong  to  it.  Absolutely  dependent, 
however,  as  it  is  upon  labor  for  its  value,  it  is  an  essential 
factor  in  human  progress. 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


3 


The  moment  man  begins  to  rise  from  a  savage  and  com- 
paratively independent  to  a  civilized  and  dependent  one, 
capital  becomes  necessary.  Men  come  into  more  intimate 
relations  with  one  another.  Instead  of  each  one  doing 
everything,  men  begin  to  devote  themselves  to  special 
employments,  and  to  depend  upon  others  to  provide  many 
things  for  them  while  they  engage  in  some  special  occupa- 
tion. In  this  way  labor  becomes  diversified.  One  man 
works  in  iron,  another  in  wood  ;  one  manufactures  cloth, 
another  makes  it  into  garments  ;  some  raise  food  to  feed 
those  who  build  houses  and  manufacture  implements  of 
husbandry.  This  necessitates  a  system  of  exchanges ;  and 
to  facilitate  exchanges  roads  must  be  made,  and  men  must 
be  employed  to  make  them.  As  population  increases  and 
necessities  multiply,  the  business  of  exchange  becomes  en- 
larged, until  we  have  immense  manufactories,  railroads 
girding  the  earth  with  iron  bands,  steamships  ploughing 
every  sea,  and  a  multitude  of  men  who  cannot  raise  bread 
or  make  a  garment,  or  do  anything  directly  for  the  supply 
of  their  own  wants. 

Now  we  can  see  how  we  become  more  dependent  upon 
others  as  our  wants  are  multiplied  and  civilization  ad- 
vances. Each  one  works  in  his  special  employment,  does 
better  work,  because  he  can  devote  his  whole  thought  and 
time  to  a  form  of  use  for  which  he  is  specially  fitted,  and 
contributes  more  largely  to  the  public  good.  While  he  is 
working  for  others,  all  others  are  working  for  him.  Every 
member  of  the  community  is  working  for  the  whole  body, 
and  the  whole  body,  for  every  member.  This  is  the  law 
of  perfect  Kfe,  a  law  which  rules  everywhere  in  the  mate- 
rial body.  Every  man  who  is  engaged  in  any  employment 
useful  to  body  or  mind  is  a  philanthropist,  a  public  bene- 


4 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN 


factor,  whether  he  raises  corn  on  the  prairie,  cotton  in 
Texas  or  India,  mines  coal  in  the  chambers  of  the  earth, 
or  feeds  it  to  engines  in  the  hold  of  a  steamship.  If  self- 
ishness did  not  pervert  and  blast  human  motives,  all  men 
and  women  would  be  fulfilling  the  law  of  charity  while 
engaged  in  their  daily  employments. 

To  carry  on  this  vast  system  of  exchanges,  to  place  the 
forest  and  the  farm,  the  factory  and  the  mine  side  by  side, 
and  deliver  the  products  of  all  climes  at  every  door,  re- 
quires immense  capital.  One  man  cannot  work  his  farm 
or  factory,  and  build  a  railroad  or  a  line  of  steamships. 
As  rain-drops  acting  singly  cannot  drive  a  mill  or  supply 
steam  for  an  engine,  but  collected  in  a  vast  reservoir,  be- 
come the  resistless  power  of  Niagara,  or  the  force  which 
drives  the  engine  and  steamship  like  mighty  shuttles  from 
mountain  to  sea-coast  and  from  shore  to  shore,  so  a  few 
dollars  in  a  multitude  of  pockets  are  powerless  to  provide 
the  means  for  these  vast  operations,  but  combined  they 
move  the  world. 

Capital  is  a  friend  to  labor  and  essential  to  its  economical 
exercise  and  just  reward.  It  can  be,  and  often  is,  a  terrible 
enemy,  when  employed  for  selfish  purposes  alone ;  but  the 
great  mass  of  it  is  more  friendly  to  human  happiness  than 
is  generally  supposed.  It  cannot  be  employed  with- 
out in  some  way,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  helping 
the  laborer.  We  think  of  the  evils  we  suffer,  but  allow 
the  good  we  enjoy  to  pass  unnoticed.  We  think  of  the 
evils  that  larger  means  would  relieve  and  the  comforts  they 
would  provide,  but  overlook  the  blessings  we  enjoy  that 
would  have  been  impossible  without  large  accumulations  of 
capital  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  form  a  just  estimate 
of  the  good  we  receive  as  well  as  the  evils  we  suffer. 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


5 


It  is  a  common  saying  at  the  present  time,  that  the  rich 
are  growing  richer  and  the  poor  poorer  ;  but  when  all  man's 
possessions  are  taken  into  the  account  there  are  good  reasons 
for  doubting  this  assertion.  It  is  true  that  the  rich  are 
growing  richer.  It  is  also  true  that  the  condition  of  the 
laborer  is  constantly  improving.  The  common  laborer  has 
conveniences  and  comforts  which  princes  could  not  command 
a  century  ago.  He  is  better  clothed,  has  a  greater  variety 
and  abundance  of  food,  lives  in  a  more  comfortable  dwell- 
ing, and  has  many  conveniences  for  the  conduct  of  domestic 
affairs  and  the  prosecution  of  labor  than  money  could  pur- 
chase but  a  few  years  ago.  An  emperor  could  not  travel 
with  the  ease,  the  comfort,  and  the  swiftness  that  the  common 
laborer  can  to-day.  He  may  think  that  he  stands  alone, 
with  no  one  to  help.  But  in  truth  he  has  an  immense 
retinue  of  servants  constantly  waiting  upon  him,  ready  and 
anxious  to  do  his  bidding.  It  requires  a  vast  army  of  men 
and  an  immense  outlay  of  capital  to  provide  a  common 
dinner,  such  as  every  man  and  woman,  with  few  exceptions, 

^  has  enjoyed  to-day. 

Think  of  the  vast  combination  of  means  and  men  and 
forces  necessary  to  provide  even  a  frugal  meal.  The 
Chinaman  raises  your  tea,  the  Brazilian  your  coffee,  the 
East  Indian  your  spices,  the  Cuban  your  sugar,  the  farmer 

r  upon  the  Western  prairies  your  bread  and  possibly  your 

beef,  the  gardener  your  vegetables,  the  dairyman  your 
butter  and  milk,  the  miner  has  dug  from  the  hills  the  coal 
with  which  your  food  was  cooked  and  your  house  was 
warmed,  the  cabinet-maker  has  provided  you  with  chairs 
and  tables,  the  cutler  with  knives  and  forks,  the  potter  with 
dishes,  the  Irishman  has  made  your  table-cloth,  the  butcher 
has  dressed  your  meat,  the  miller  your  flour. 


6 


THE  COXFLICT  BETWEEN 


But  these  various  articles  of  food,  and  the  means  of 
preparing  and  serving  it,  were  produced  at  immense  dis- 
tances from  you  and  from  one  another.  Oceans  had  to  be 
traversed,  hills  levelled,  valleys  filled,  and  mountains  tun- 
nelled, ships  must  be  built,  railways  constructed,  and  a 
vast  army  of  men  instructed  and  employed  in  every  me- 
chanical art  before  the  materials  for  your  dinner  could  be 
prepared  and  served.  There  must  also  be  men  to  collect 
these  materials,  to  buy  and  sell  and  distribute  them. 
Every  one  stands  in  his  own  place  and  does  his  own  work, 
and  receives  his  wages.  But  he  is  none  the  less  working 
for  you,  and  serving  you  as  truly  and  effectively  as  he 
would  be  if  he  were  in  your  special  employment  and  re- 
ceived his  wages  from  your  hand.  In  the  light  of  these 
facts,  which  every  one  must  acknowledge,  we  may  be  able 
to  see  more  clearly  the  truth  of  what  I  said  in  my  last 
lecture ;  and  it  is  a  truth  which  must  help  all  who  re- 
ceive it,  that  every  man  and  woman  who  does  useful 
work  is  a  public  benefactor,  and  the  thought  of  it  and  the 
purpose  of  it  will  ennoble  the  labor  and  the  laborer.  We 
are  all  bound  together  by  common  ties.  The  rich  and  the 
poor,  the  learned  and  the  ignorant,  the  strong  and  the 
weak,  are  woven  together  in  one  social  and  civil  web. 
Harm  to  one  is  harm  to  all  ;  help  to  one  is  help  to  all. 

You  see  what  a  vast  army  of  servants  it  requires  to 
provide  your  dinner.  Do  you  not  see  that  it  demands  a 
corresponding  amount  of  capital  to  provide  and  keep  this 
complicated  machinery  in  motion  ?  And  do  you  not  see 
that  every  man,  woman,  and  child  is  enjoying  the  benefit 
of  it  ?  How  could  we  get  our  coal,  our  meat,  our  flour, 
our  tea  and  coffee,  sugar  and  rice  ?  The  laborer  cannot 
build  ships  and  sail  them  and  support  himself  while  doing 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


7 


it.  The  farmer  cannot  leave  his  farm  and  take  his  produce 
to  the  market.  The  miner  cannot  mine  and  transport  his 
coah  The  farmer  in  Kansas  is  burning  corn  to-day  to  cook 
his  food  and  warm  his  dwelling,  and  the  miner  may  be 
hungry  for  the  bread  which  the  corn  would  supply,  be- 
cause they  cannot  exchange  the  fruits  of  their  labor.  Every 
acre  of  land,  every  forest  and  mine  has  been  increased  in 
value  by  railways  and  steamboats,  and  the  comforts  of  life 
and  the  means  of  social  and  intellectual  culture  have  been 
carried  to  the  most  inaccessible  places. 

But  the  benefits  of  capital  are  not  limited  to  supplying 
present  wants  and  comforts.  It  opens  new  avenues  for 
labor.  It  diversifies  it  and  gives  a  wider  field  to  every  one 
to  do  the  kind  of  work  for  which  he  is  best  fitted  by  natural 
taste  and  genius.  The  number  of  employments  created 
by  railways,  steamships,  telegraphs,  and  manufactories  by 
machinery  can  hardly  be  estimated.  Capital  is  also  largely 
invested  in  supplying  the  means  of  intellectual  and  spiritual 
culture.  Books  are  multiplied  at  constantly  diminishing 
prices,  and  the  best  thought  of  the  world,  by  means  of  our 
great  publishing  houses,  is  made  accessible  to  the  humblest 
workman.  There  is  no  better  example  of  the  benefits  the 
common  laborer  derives  from  capital  than  the  daily  news- 
paper. For  one  or  two  cents  the  history  of  the  world  for 
twenty-four  hours  is  brought  to  every  door.  The  laborer, 
while  riding  to  or  from  his  work  in  a  comfortable  car,  can 
visit  all  parts  of  the  known  world  and  get  a  truer  idea  of 
the  events  of  the  day  than  he  could  if  he  were  bodily 
present.  A  battle  in  China  or  Africa,  an  earthquake  in 
Spain,  a  dynamite  explosion  in  London,  a  debate  in  Con- 
gress, the  movements  of  men  in  public  and  private  life  for 
the  suppression  of  vice,  for  enlightening  the  ignorant, 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN 


helping  the  needy,  and  improving  the  people  generally, 
are  spread  before  him  in  a  small  compass,  and  bring  him 
into  contact  and  on  equality  in  regard  to  the  world's  his- 
tory, with  kings  and  queens,  with  saints  and  sages,  and 
people  in  every  condition  in  life.  Do  you  ever  think, 
while  reading  the  morning  paper,  how  many  men  have 
been  running  on  your  errands,  collecting  intelligence  for 
you  from  alt  parts  of  the  earth,  and  putting  it  into  a  form 
convenient  for  your  use  ?  It  required  the  investment  of 
millions  of  money  and  the  employment  of  millions  of  men 
]  to  produce  that  paper  and  leave  it  at  your  door.  And 
J  what  did  all  this  service  cost  you  ?    Two  cents. 

These  are  examples  of  the  benefits  which  every  one  de- 
/  rives  from  capital,  benefits  which  could  not  be  obtained 
I    without  vast  expenditure  of  money ;  benefits  which  come 
\  to  us  without  our  care  and  lay  their  blessings  at  our  feet, 
j   Capital  cannot  be  invested  in  any  useful  production  without 
1  blessing  a  multitude  of  people.    It  sets  the  machinery  of 
i  life  in  motion,  it  multiplies  employments;  it  places  the 
i  product  of  all  climes  at  every  door,  it  draws  the  people  of 
■  all  nations  together  ;  brings  mind  in  contact  with  mind, 
and  gives  to  every  man  and  woman  a  large  and  valuable 
share  of  the  product.    These  are  facts  which  it  would  be 
well  for  every  one,  however  poor  he  may  be,  to  consider. 

If  capital  is  such  a  blessing  to  labor ;  if  it  can  only  be 
brought  into  use  by  labor,  and  derives  all  its  value  from  it, 
how  can  there  be  any  conflict  between  them  ?  There  could 
be  none  if  both  the  capitalist  and  laborer  acted  from 
humane  and  Christian  principles.  But  they  do  not. 
They  are  governed  by  inhuman  and  unchristian  principles. 
Each  party  seeks  to  get  the  largest  returns  for  the  least 
service.    Capital  desires  larger  profits,  labor  higher  wages. 


\ 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


9 


The  interests  of  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer  come  into 
direct  collision.  In  this  warfare  capital  has  great  advan-  i 
tages,  and  has  been  prompt  to  take  them.  It  has  demanded  i 
and  taken  the  lion's  share  of  the  profits.  It  has  despised 
the  servant  that  enriched  it.  It  has  regarded  the  laborer 
as  a  menial,  a  slave,  whose  rights  and  happiness  it  was  not 
bound  to  respect.  It  influences  legislators  to  enact  laws 
in  its  favor,  subsidizes  governments,  and  wields  its  power 
for  its  own  advantage.  Capital  has  been  a  lord  and  labor  ' 
a  servant.  While  the  servant  remained  docile  and  obedi- 
ent, content  with  such  compensation  as  its  lord  chose  to 
give,  there  was  no  conflict.  But  labor  is  rising  from  a 
servile,  submissive,  and  hopeless  condition.  It  has  acquired 
strength  and  intelligence ;  has  gained  the  idea  that  it  has 
rights  that  ought  to  be  respected,  and  begins  to  assert  and 
combine  to  support  them. 

Each  party  in  this  warfare  regards  the  subject  from  its 
own  selfish  interest.  The  capitalist  supposes  that  gain  to 
labor  is  loss  to  him,  and  that  he  must  look  to  his  own  i 
interests  first ;  that  the  cheaper  the  labor  the  larger  his 
gains.  Consequently  it  is  for  his  interest  to  keep  the  price 
as  low  as  possible.  On  the  contrary,  the  laborer  thinks 
that  he  loses  what  the  capitalist  gains,  and  consequently 
that  it  is  for  his  interest  to  get  as  large  wages  as  possible. 
From  these  opposite  points  of  view  their  interests  appear 
to  be  directly  hostile.  What  one  party  gains  the  other 
loses ;  hence  the  conflict.  Both  are  acting  from  selfish 
motives,  and  consequently  must  be  wrong.  Both  parties 
see  only  half  of  the  truth,  and,  mistaking  that  for  the 
whole  of  it,  they  fall  into  a  mistake  ruinous  to  both.  Each 
one  stands  on  his  own  ground,  and  regards  the  subject 
wholly  from  his  point  of  view  and  in  the  misleading  light 


10 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN 


of  his  own  selfishness.  Passion  inflames  the  mind  and 
blinds  the  understanding;  and  when  passion  is  aroused 
men  will  sacrifice  their  own  interests  to  injure  others,  and 
both  will  sufi'er  loss.  They  will  wage  continual  warfare 
against  each  other ;  they  will  resort  to  all  devices,  and 
take  advantage  of  every  necessity  to  win  a  victory.  Cap- 
ital tries  to  starve  the  laborer  into  submission,  like  a  be- 
leaguered city  ;  and  hunger  and  want  are  most  powerful 
weapons.  Labor  sullenly  resists,  and  tries  to  destroy  the 
value  of  capital  by  rendering  it  unproductive.  If  neces- 
sity or  interest  compels  a  truce,  it  is  a  sullen  one,  and 
maintained  with  the  purpose  of  renewing  hostilities  as 
soon  as  there  is  any  prospect  of  success.  Thus  laborers 
and  the  capitalists  confront  each  other  like  two  armed 
hosts,  ready  at  any  time  to  renew  the  conflict.  It  will  be 
renewed,  without  doubt,  and  continued  with  varying  suc- 
cess until  both  parties  discover  that  they  are  mistaken, 
that  their  interests  are  mutual,  and  can  only  be  secured  to 
the  fullest  extent  by  co-operation  and  giving  to  each  the 
reward  it  deserves.  The  capitalist  and  the  laborer  must 
clasp  hands  across  the  bottomless  pit  into  which  so  much 
wealth  and  work  have  been  cast. 

How  this  reconciliation  is  to  be  efi"ected  is  a  question 
that  is  occupying  the  minds  of  many  wise  and  good  men 
on  both  sides  at  the  present  time.  Wise  and  impartial 
leoislation  will  no  doubt  be  an  important  agent  in  re- 
straining blind  passion  and  protecting  all  classes  from 
insatiable  greed ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  use 
his  best  endeavors  to  secure  such  legislation  both  in  State 
and  national  governments.  Organizations  of  laborers  for 
protecting  their  own  rights  and  securing  a  better  re- 
ward for  their  labor,  will  have  a  great  influence.  That 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


11 


influence  will  continue  to  increase  as  their  temper  be- 
comes more  mild  and  firm,  and  their  demands  are  based 
on  justice  and  humanity.  Violence  and  threats  will  effect 
no  good.  Dynamite,  whether  in  the  form  of  explosives 
or  the  more  destructive  force  of  fierce  and  reckless  passion, 
will  heal  no  wounds  nor  subdue  any  hostile  feeling.  Arbi- 
tration is  doubtless  the  wisest  and  most  practicable  means 
now  available  to  bring  about  amicable  relations  between 
these  hostile  parties  and  secure  justice  to  both.  Giving  the 
laborer  a  share  in  the  profits  of  the  business  has  worked 
well  in  some  cases,  but  it  is  attended  with  great  practical 
difficulties  which  require  more  wisdom,  self-control,  and 
genuine  regard  for  the  common  interests  of  both  parties 
than  often  can  be  found.  Many  devices  may  have  a  par- 
tial and  temporary  efi'ect.  But  no  permanent  progress  can 
be  made  in  settling  this  conflict  without  restraining  and 
finally  removing  its  cause. 

Its  real  central  cause  is  an  inordinate  love  of  self  -and 
the  world,  and  that  cause  will  continue  to  operate  as  long 
as  it  exists.  It  may  be  restrained  and  moderated,  but  it 
will  assert  itself  when  occasion  off'ers.  Every  wise  man 
must,  therefore,  seek  to  remove  the  cause,  and  as  far  as  he 
can  do  it  he  will  control  effects.  Purify  the  fountain , 
and  you  make  the  whole  stream  pure  and  wholesome. 

There  is  a  principle  of  universal  influence  that  must  un- 
derlie and  guide  every  successful  effort  to  bring  these  two 
great  factors  of  human  good  which  now  confront  each  other 
with  hostile  purpose,  into  harmony.  It  is  no  invention  or 
discovery  of  mine.  It  embodies  a  higher  than  human  wis- 
dom. It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  or  apply.  The 
child  can  comprehend  it  and  act  according  to  it.  It  is 
universal  in  its  application,  and  wholly  useful  in  its  effects. 


12 


THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN 


It  will  lighten  the  burdens  of  labor  and  increase  its  re- 
wards. It  will  give  security  to  capital  and  make  it  more 
productive.  It  is  simply  the  Golden  Rule,  embodied  in 
these  words :  Therefore  all  things  whatsoever  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  to  yoii^  do  ye  even  so  to  them :  for  this 
is  the  law  and  the  prophets ^ 

Before  proceeding  to  apply  this  principle  to  the  case  in 
hand,  let  me  call  your  special  attention  to  it.  It  is  a  very 
remarkable  law  of  human  life  which  seems  to  have  been 
generally  overlooked  by  statesmen,  philosophers,  and  relig- 
ious teachers.  This  rule  embodies  the  whole  of  religion  ; 
it  comprises  all  the  precepts,  commandments,  and  means  of 
the  future  triumphs  of  good  over  evil,  of  truth  over  error, 
and  the  peace  and  happiness  of  men,  foretold  in  the  glorious 
visions  of  the  prophets.  Mark  the  words.  It  does  not 
merely  say  that  it  is  a  wise  rule;  that  it  accords  with  the 
principles  of  the  Divine  order  revealed  in  the  law  and  the 
prophets.  It  embodies  them  all :  "  It  is  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  It  comprises  love  to  God.  It  says  we  should 
regard  Him  as  we  desire  to  have  Him  regard  us ;  that  we 
should  do  to  Him  as  we  wish  to  have  Him  do  to  us.  If  we 
desire  to  have  Him  love  us  v^ith  all  His  heart,  with  all 
His  soul,  with  all  His  mind,  and  with  all  His  strength,  we 
must  love  Him  in  the  same  manner.  If  we  desire  to  have 
our  neighbor  love  us  as  he  loves  himself,  we  must  love  him 
as  we  love  ourself.  Here,  then,  is  the  universal  and  Di- 
vine law  of  human  service  and  fellowship.  It  is  not  a  pre- 
cept of  human  wisdom  ;  it  has  its  origin  in  the  Divine 
nature,  and  its  embodiment  in  human  nature.  Now  let  us 
apply  it  to  the  conflict  between  labor  and  capital. 

You  are  a  capitalist.  Your  money  is  invested  in  manu- 
factures, in  land,  in  mines,  in  merchandise,  railways,  and 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


13 


ships,  or  you  loan  it  to  others  on  interest.    You  employ, 
directly  or  indirectly,  men  to  use  your  capital.    You  can- 
not come  to  a  just  conclusion  concerning  your  rights  and 
duties  and  privileges  by  looking  wholly  to  your  own  gains. 
The  glitter  of  the  silver  and  the  gold  will  exercise  so  potent 
a  spell  over  your  minds  that  it  will  blind  you  to  everything 
else!    You  can  see  no  interest  but  your  own.    The  laborer 
is  not  known  or  regarded  as  a  man  who  has  any  interests 
you  are  bound  to  regard.    You  see  him  only  as  your  slave, 
your  tool,  a  means  of  adding  to  your  wealth.    In  this 
light  he  is  a  friend  so  far  as  he  serves  you,  an  enemy  so 
far  as  he  does  not.    But  change  your  point  of  view.  Put 
yourself  in  his  place  ;  put  him  in  your  place.    How  would 
you  like  to  have  him  treat  you  if  you  were  in  his  place  ? 
Perhaps  you  have  been  there.    In  all  probability  you  have, 
for  the  capitalist  to-day  was  the  laborer  yesterday,  and  the 
laborer  to-day  will  be  the  employer  to-morrow.    You  know 
from  lively  and  painful  experience  how  you  would  like  to 
be  treated.    Would  you  like  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  tool  ? 
as  a  means  of  enriching  another  ?    Would  you  like  to  have 
your  wages  kept  down  to  the  bare  necessities  of  life? 
Would  you  like  to  be  regarded  with  indifference  and 
treated  with  brutality?    Would  you  like  to  have  your 
blood,  your  strength,  your  soul  coined  into  dollars  for  the 
benefit  of  another  ?    These  questions  are  easy  to  answer. 
Every  one  knows  that  he  would  rejoice  to  be  treated  kindly, 
to  have  his  interests  regarded,  his  rights  recognized  and 
protected.    Every  one  knows  that  such  regard  awakens  a 
response  in  his  own  heart.    Kindness  begets  kindness; 
respect  awakens  respect.    Put  yourself  in  his  place.  Im- 
agine that  you  are  dealing  with  yourself,  and  you  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  deciding  whether  you  should  give  the  screw 


u 


THE  COXFLICT  BETWEEN 


another  turn,  that  you  ma}^  wring  a  penny  more  from  the 
muscles  of  the  worker,  or  rekix  its  pressure,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, add  something  to  his  wages,  and  give  him  respect  for 
his  service.  Do  to  him  as  you  would  have  him  do  to  you 
in  changed  conditions. 

You  are  a  laborer.  You  receive  a  certain  sum  for  a 
day's  work.  Put  yourself  in  the  place  of  your  employer. 
How  would  you  like  to  have  the  men  you  employed  work 
for  3^ou  ?  Would  you  think  it  right  that  they  should  re- 
gard you  as  their  enemy  ?  Would  you  think  it  honest  in 
them  to  slight  their  work,  to  do  as  little  and  to  get  as  much 
as  possible  ?  If  you  had  a  large  contract  which  must  be 
completed  at  a  fixed  time  or  you  would  suffer  great  loss, 
would  you  like  to  have  your  workmen  take  advantage  of 
your  necessity  to  compel  an  increase  of  their  wages  ? 
Would  you  think  it  right  and  wise  in  them  to  interfere 
with  you  in  the  management  of  j^our  business  ?  To  dic- 
tate whom  you  should  employ,  and  on  what  terms  you 
should  employ  them  ?  Would  you  not  rather  have  them 
do  honest  work  in  a  kind  and  good  spirit  ?  Would  you 
not  be  much  more  disposed  to  look  to  their  interests,  to 
lighten  their  labor,  to  increase  their  wages  when  you  could 
afford  to  do  so,  and  look  after  the  welfare  of  their  families, 
when  you  found  that  they  regarded  yours  ?  I  know  that 
it  would  be  so.  It  is  true  that  men  are  selfish,  and  that 
some  men  are  so  mean  and  contracted  in  spirit  that  they 
cannot  see  any  interest  but  their  own,  whose  hearts,  not 
made  of  flesh  but  of  silver  and  gold,  are  so  hard  that 
they  are  not  touched  by  any  human  feeling,  and  care  not 
how  much  others  suffer  if  they  can  make  a  cent  by  it. 
But  they  are  the  exception,  not  the  rule.  We  are  influ- 
enced by  the  regard  and  devotion  of  others  to  our  interests. 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 


15 


The  laborer  who  knows  that  his  employer  feels  kindly  to- 
wards him,  desires  to  treat  him  justly  and  to  regard  his 
good,  will  do  better  work  and  more  of  it,  and  will  be  dis- 
posed to  look  to  his  employer's  interests  as  well  as  his  own. 

I  am  well  aware  that,  many  will  think  this  Divine  and 
humane  law  of  doing  to  others  as  we  would  have  them  do 
to  us,  is  impracticable  in  this  selfish  and  worldly  age.  If 
both  parties  would  be  governed  by  it,  every  one  can  see 
how  happy  would  be  the  results.  But,  it  will  be  said,  they 
will  not.  The  laborer  will  not  work  unless  compelled  by 
want.  He  will  take  advantage  of  every  necessity.  As 
soon  as  he  gains  a  little  independence  of  his  employer  he 
becomes  proud,  arrogant,  and  hostile.  The  employer  will 
seize  upon  every  means  to  keep  the  workman  dependent 
upon  him,  and  to  make  as  much  out  of  him  as  possible. 
Every  inch  of  ground  which  labor  yields  capital  will  occupy 
and  intrench  itself  in  it,  and  from  its  vantage  bring  the 
laborer  into  greater  dependence  and  more  abject  submission. 
But  this  is  a  mistake.  The  history  of  the  world  testifies 
that  when  the  minds  of  men  are  not  embittered  by  intense  • 
hostility  and  their  feelings  outraged  by  cruel  wrongs,  they 
are  ready  to  listen  to  calm,  disinterested,  and  judicious 
counsel.  A  man  who  employed  a  large  number  of  laborers 
in  mining  coal  told  me  that  he  had  never  known  an  in- 
stance to  fail  of  a  calm  and  candid  response  when  he  had 
appealed  to  honorable  motives,  as  a  man  to  man,  both  of 
whom  acknowledged  a  common  humanity.  There  is  a 
recent  and  most  notable  instance  in  this  city  of  the  happy 
elFect  of  calm,  disinterested,  and  judicious  counsel  in  set- 
tling difiiculties  between  employers  and  workmen  that 
were  disastrous  to  both.  w 

When  the  mind  is  inflamed  by  passion  men  will  not 


16       CONFLICT  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL, 


listen  to  reason.  They  become  blind  to  their  own  inter- 
ests and  regardless  of  the  interests  of  others.  Difficulties 
are  never  settled  while  passion  rages.  They  are  never 
settled  by  conflict.  One  party  may  be  subdued  by  power; 
but  the  sense  of  wrong  will  remain ;  the  fire  of  passion 
will  slumber  ready  to  break  out  again  on  the  first  occa- 
sion. But  let  the  laborer  or  the  capitalist  feel  assured 
tha  the  other  party  has  no  wish  to  take  any  advantage, 
that  there  is  a  sincere  desire  and  determination  on  both 
sides  to  be  just  and  pay  due  regard  to  their  common  in- 
terests, and  all  *he  conflict  between  them  would  cease,  as 
the  ^  '^  .     he  ocean  sink  to  calm  when  the  winds 

are  at  rest.  ^borer  and  the  capitalist  have  a  mutual 

and  comr  ^  arest.  Neither  can  permanently  prosper 
without  ^osperity  of  the  other.    They  are  parts  of 

one  b  abor  is  the  arm,  capital  is  the  blood.  De- 

vit^  ^'^r.,  -e  the  blood,  and  the  arm  loses  its  power. 
D'-^ /■         .rm,  and  the  blood  is  useless.    Let  each  care 

uer,  and  both  are  benefited.  Let  each  take  the 
^^  '^        Je  as  a  guide,  and  all  cause  of  hostility  will  be 

all  conflict  will  cease,  and  they  will  go  hand  in 
^        0  do  their  work  and  reap  their  just  reward. 


P  H  1  I.  A  D  E  T.  P  H  I  A  : 
KEW  CHURCH  TRACT  AND  PUHLICATrON  SOCIETY, 

Tvventy-Skconi)  and  OirKSTNUT  Strrkts. 
NEW  YORK:  E.  H.  SWINNBY,  No.  20  COOPER  UNION. 
BOSTON;  MASSACHUSETTS  NEW  CHURCH  UNION,  169  TREMONT  STREET. 


Priiilcd  b.v  .1.  U.  T.iPFiNCOTT  A  Co.,  riiiladelpliia. 


Eleventli  Series.   No.  3. 


MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS  MEANS  OF 
HUMAN  CULTURE, 

BY  KEY.  CHAUI^CEY  GILES. 


Man  is  a  being  of  various  capacities  and  large  dimen- 
sions. He  was  created  in  the  image  and  after  the  like- 
ness of  God  whom  he  has  been  taught  to  call  his  Father, 
and  of  whose  nature  he  was  made  to  partake.  He  is  en- 
dowed with  faculties  capable  of  taking  the  impress  of  the 
Divine  nature,  of  receiving  and  reciprocating  the  Divine 
love,  of  being  illuminated  with  the  Divine  wisdom,  of 
becoming  a  co-worker  with  his  Heavenly  Father,  and  the 
heir  of  His  infinite  riches.  He  is  created  for  a  noble 
destiny,  endowed  with  capacities  to  fill  it,  and  the  means 
of  gaining  it.  Such  is  the  high  calling  and  grand  possi- 
bilities of  every  human  being,  however  obscure  his  natural 
birth  or  mean  and  scanty  his  earthly  condition.  President 
Garfield  said  he  always  felt  like  taking  off"  his  hat  to  a 
boy  in  recognition  of  the  grand  possibilities  of  knowledge, 
power,  and  heroism  that  lay  sleeping  within  him.  Every 
one  would  look  with  some  degree  of  curiosity  and  respect 
upon  the  heir  of  an  earthly  kingdom,  but  every  boy  and 
girl  we  meet,  however  humble  their  natural  parentage,  are 
heirs  to  an  inheritance  more  precious  in  value  and  vaster 
in  extent  than  all  worlds,~an  inheritance  they  can  only 
forfeit  by  declining  to  accept  it.    Here,  in  the  greatness  of 


2  MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 

human  possibility,  I  desire  to  take  my  staud  in  estimating 
the  value  of  mechanical  employments  as  a  means  of  human 
culture. 

You  will  observe  that  I  say  human  culture.    I  mean 
more  than  physical,  or  intellectual,  or  artistic,  or  even 
moral  and  spiritual  culture.    Human  comprises  them  all, 
and  there  can  be  no  complete  human  culture  which  does 
not  bring  all  man's  faculties  into  play.    The  value  of  every 
employment  and  every  possession  can  only  be  determined 
by  the  degree  in  which  it  contributes  to  this  end.  All 
man's  faculties  are  given  to  him  as  germs,  as  possibilities, 
to  be  developed  by  exercise.    This  is  the  Divine  method 
of  creating,  examples  of  which  we  see  everywhere  around 
us.    The  Lord  does  not  create  a  tree  of  full  stature,  loaded 
with  fruit,  or  a  world  ready  for  human  habitation  in  a 
moment,  by  an  almighty  fiat.    He  employs  means  and 
brings  into  play  a  great  variety  of  forces,  and  step  by  step 
advances  toward  the  end  He  seeks.    As  the  germs  of  every 
human  faculty  can  only  be  developed  by  action,  the  Lord 
has  placed  man  in  conditions,  supplied  him  with  means, 
and  charmed  him  with  motives  to  call  his  faculties  into 
play,  and  find  his  happiness  in  their  activity.    And  He 
has  so  constituted  them  that  they  gain  enlargement  and 
strength  and  perfection  by  action.    The  grandeur  of  our 
nature  consists  in  the  fact  that  there  is  no  assignable  limit 
to  intellectual  and  spiritual  attainment  beyond  which  we 
\  cannot  pass.  The  mind  is  not  filled,  like  a  material  vessel,  by 
V  what  we  put  into  it.    On  the  contrary,  it  becomes  enlarged 
by  it.    The  more  we  know  the  greater  our  capacity  for 
knowledge,  and  the  more  rapidly  we  can  learn.    The  more 
we  love  the  more  we  are  capable  of  loving  and  the  keener 
and  more  exquisite  the  joy  of  it.    Every  human  fiiculty 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE. 


3 


is  developed  by  use  and  in  use.  This  is  the  meaning  of 
labor,  of  society,  of  the  state.  This  is  the  reason  why  the 
Lord  has  not  supplied  us  with  all  the  means  necessary 
to  the  support  of  a  merely  animal  existence  ready  for  our 
use.  That  would  take  away  all  incentives  to  action.  It 
is  better  to  be  hungry  at  times  than  to  be  always  full  fed. 
It  is  better  to  be  ignorant  than  to  have  knowledge  poured 
into  us  without  any  effort  of  our  own.  That  which  costs 
us  no  labor,  and  whose  possession  calls  no  faculty  into  play, 
is  of  no  value.  If  we  were  entombed  in  sepulchres  of  gold 
and  silver,  studded  with  the  most  precious  gems,  our  treas- 
ures would  give  us  no  pleasure.  The  true  value  of  every 
possession  and  condition  in  life  is  determined  by  its  power 
to  call  our  faculties  into  exercise  in  the  most  varied  and 
orderly  manner.  From  this  point  of  view,  and  measured 
by  this  standard,  let  us  see  what  we  can  find  in  mechanical 
employments  that  is  favorable  to  the  attainment  of  the 
highest  end  of  our  being. 

The  Heavenly  Father  gives  His  children  their  food, 
clothing,  habitation,  and  the  means  of  supplying  all  their 
wants  and  developing  all  their  faculties  in  crude  sub- 
stances. He  gives  the  materials,  and  some  strength  and 
skill  to  use  them,  that  by  their  use  he  may  gain  more 
strength  of  body  and  mind,  more  skill  of  hand  and  brain, 
and  by  skill  of  hand  and  thought  the  more  interior  and 
precious  qualities  of  his  nature  may  be  called  into  con- 
scious life  and  embodied  in  deed.  The  elements  of  his 
bread  and  meat  and  fruits  of  every  kind  are  in  the  ground 
and  atmosphere;  but  man  must  plough  his  ground,  and  sow 
his  seed,  and  plant  his  trees,  and  cultivate  his  fields  before 
he  can  gather  his  harvests.  The  worm  will  spin  his  silk, 
the  earth  will  send  forth  from  her  generous  bosom  his 


4 


MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 


cotton,  sheep  will  grow  his  wool,  but  these  raw  materials 
require  many  changes  before  they  become  garments  to  clothe 
the  body.  The  iron  and  silver  and  gold,  mixed  with  many 
substances  that  render  them  useless,  lie  in  crude  forms  in 
the  chambers  of  the  hills.  They  must  be  subjected  to 
many  processes  and  pass  through  many  changes  before 
they  can  be  fitted  for  human  use.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  mechanic  to  make  these  changes. 

These  things  are  familiar  to  all ;  and  because  they  are 
so  familiar  we  are  apt  to  forget  or  to  overlook  the  love  and 
wisdom  of  our  Heavenly  Father  in  giving  us  the  necessa- 
ries of  life  in  such  crude  forms.  Multitudes  mistake  His 
purpose,  and  accuse  Him  of  neglecting  His  children,  be- 
cause He  suffers  any  one  of  them  to  go  naked  and  hungry. 
But  He  desires  to  make  us  co-workers  with  Him ;  He 
desires  to  have  us  become  something  more  than  animals 
to  be  fed.  He  has  clothed  the  grass  of  the  field,  the  birds 
of  the  air,  and  the  animal  that  possesses  no  faculties 
capable  of  development.  But  man  is  endowed  with  a 
nobler  nature.  He  possesses  faculties  capable  of  unlimited 
attainment  in  power  to  know,  to  love,  and  to  enjoy.  He 
has  placed  him  in  the  best  conditions  to  call  these  higher 
faculties  into  play.  Man's  food,  protection,  comfort,  and 
happiness  demand  the  exercise  of  thought,  of  prudence,  of 
skill  and  providence,  of  co-operation  with  his  fellow-man 
and  regard  for  his  interests.  The  Lord  is  not  content  that 
man  should  live  a  merely  animal  existence,  and  therefore 
He  has  provided  him  with  the  means  and  placed  him  in 
conditions  to  call  forth  love  to  Him  and  to  his  fellow- 
man.  Every  human  being  has  something  to  do  in  carry- 
ing this  purpose  into  effect,  both  for  himself  and  in  as- 
sisting others.     The  Lord  gives  to  every  human  being 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE. 


5 


one  or  five  or  ten  pounds  of  capacity,  and  rewards  him 
according  to  the  measure  of  his  use. 

The  mechanic  stands  between  the  crude  substances  of 
nature  and  their  use.  They  must  pass  through  his  heart 
and  through  his  brain  and  through  his  hands  in  their 
transition  to  forms  adapted  to  human  use.  He  must  put 
his  heart  into  them,  and  they  must  take  on  the  forms  of 
his  thought,  and  become  the  expression  of  his  love,  of  his 
skill,  of  his  knowledge,  and  of  his  power,  of  his  fidelity, 
and  of  all  human  qualities.  Can  you  conceive  of  any 
other  employment  better  calculated  to  call  all  his  faculties, 
the  highest  as  well  as  the  lowest,  into  action  ?  Let  me 
help  you,  if  I  can,  to  see  how  it  tends  to  efi'ect  this  result, 
and  co-operates  with  the  Divine  purpose  in  man's  creation. 

I  mention  first  one  of  the  noblest  human  qualities  and 
most  essential  to  human  happiness,  and  one  which  you 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  it  has  anything  to  do  with 
our  employments.  That  element  of  human  character  is 
obedience.  It  is  an  old-fashioned  virtue  which  is  only 
kept  alive  by  necessity.  We  are  all  free  ;  we  are  all  seek- 
ing to  be  independent.  But  we  are  seeking  the  impossible. 
There  is  only  one,  and  can  be  only  one  independent  being 
in  the  universe,  and  even  He,  though  possessing  infinite 
power,  is  dependent  on  the  will  of  man  for  the  good  He 
can  bestow  upon  him.  Freedom,  also,  of  which  we  so 
much  boast,  and  so  eagerly  desire,  can  only  be  gained  by 
obedience.  But  see  how  his  employment  teaches,  and  even 
compels,  obedience  in  the  mechanic. 

The  substances  he  deals  with  though  they  lie  dead  and 
passive  under  his  hand,  possess  qualities  and  hold  relations 
to  other  substances  which  he  must  respect.  They  are 
under  the  dominion  of  laws  which  he  cannot  transcend, 


6 


MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 


which  he  must  obey,  or  he  can  do  nothing  with  them. 
He  is  a  worker  in  iron.  The  passive  metal  says  to  him, 
Mould  me  into  any  form  your  taste  or  fancy  may  devise  or 
your  need  require ;  put  me  to  any  use  you  please.  Heat 
me,  melt  me,  roll  me,  pound  me,  marry  me  to  any  other 
substance  ;  I  am  at  your  service.  I  will  take  on  the  form 
of  your  thought,  I  will  do  your  pleasure ;  but  only  on  one 
condition.  You  must  respect  my  nature  ;  you  must  obey 
the  laws  embodied  in  me. 

The  mechanic  soon  discovers  that  this  demand  must  be 
respected.  He  begins  at  once  to  learn  what  those  laws  are. 
He  finds  the  metal  in  crude  ore  combined  with  substances 
which  debase  its  qualities  and  render  it  useless.  He  seeks 
to  purge  it  of  its  dross.  He  finds  it  too  soft  for  his 
use  in  cutting  wood  and  stone,  and  by  long  study  and  ex- 
periment he  discovers  that  it  loves  carbon,  and  he  brings 
them  together,  and  they  embrace  each  other  in  indissoluble 
union,  and  combined  off'er  their  services  to  quarry  his  stone 
and  shape  it  into  pillars  and  arches  to  support  his  structures, 
or  leaves  and  flowers  to  adorn  them.  It  will  fell  his  forests, 
delve  and  plough  for  him,  spin  and  weave  for  him  ;  become 
a  path  for  his  feet  and  give  them  wings  ;  an  instrument 
of  power  to  carry  his  burdens,  and  with  tireless  hands  do 
his  work.  But  it  will  not  lift  a  finger  nor  take  a  step  in 
his  service  contrary  to  the  laws  of  its  own  nature,  and  he 
must  obey  them. 

We  boast  much  of  our  control  over  elemental  forces,  of 
making  the  winds  and  waves,  light  and  heat  and  electricity, 
obey  and  serve  us.  They  will  serve  us,  but  only  on  condi- 
tion that  we  obey  them.  And  this  is  an  immutable  condi- 
tion. The  winds  will  not  change  their  direction  to  accom- 
modate the  sailor  on  the  ocean.    No  prayers,  no  skill,  no 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE.  7 


power  of  man  can  change  them.  But  when  he  sets  his 
sails,  he  can  so  trim  them  that  the  wind  will  fill  them,  and 
send  him  north,  south,  east,  or  west,  as  he  desires,  only  he 
cannot  sail  against  them.  So  in  everything.  Iron  will 
float  like  cork  on  water.  The  stream  will  grind  his  corn 
and  saw  his  logs  and  plane  his  boards,  if  he  will  place  him- 
self in  true  and  amicable  relations  with  it,  but  on  no  other 
conditions.  The  lightning  will  carry  his  messages  of  love 
or  hate,  of  life  or  death,  but  only  in  its  own  path  and  in 
its  own  language.  It  must  also  be  in  the  path  it  best  ^ 
loves.  Every  force  which  men  call  natural,  but  which  I  ^ 
call  Divine,  will  work  for  man,  if  he  will  obey  it.  So  the 
mechanic  cannot  take  a  step  in  gaining  his  purpose  but  in 
obedience  to  law.  He  knows  he  cannot ;  and,  therefore,  he 
sets  himself  diligently  and  faithfully  to  learn  the  laws,  the 
likes  and  dislikes,  the  strength  and  weakness  of  the  sub- 
stances he  deals  with,  and  he  rejoices  when  he  discovers 
them.  Is  there  any  employment  so  well  fitted  to  teach 
this  virtue  and  to  initiate  the  pupil  into  the  practice  of  it  ? 

Sometime  he  will  go  a  step  farther  and  higher.  Some- 
time his  eyes  will  be  opened,  and  he  will  see  that  the  laws 
of  nature  are  also  laws  of  spirit ;  that  in  the  higher  as  well 
as  in  the  lower  realms  of  crearion  obedience  is  the  only  rule 
of  wisdom.    He  will  see  that  his  Heavenly  Father  will  ] 
work  for  the  comfort  and  peace  and  enrichment  of  his  \ 
spirit,  as  well  as  for  the  nourishment  and  clothing  of  his  | 
body,  when  he  will  obey  the  laws  of  spirit.    He  will  learn 
that  those  laws  are  as  immutable  as  gravitation,  that  he 
cannot  escape  from  their  presence  or  evade  their  powers ; 
that  they  will  run  on  his  errands,  lift  the  burdens  of  care 
and  sorrow  from  his  heart,  elevate  him  into  a  purer  at- 
mosphere and  clearer  light,  bring  him  into  more  intimate 


8  MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 


and  lovely  communion  with  the  good  and  true  in  all 
worlds,  and  with  Him  who  creates  all  worlds  and  offers  to 
all  men  the  treasures  of  His  infinite  riches,  when  he  obeys 
them.  Obedience  is  the  only  condition ;  it  is  the  im- 
mutable condition.  The  commandments  are  those  laws. 
The  two  great  commandments  which  enjoin  supreme  love 
to  God  and  equal  love  to  man  are  a  summary  of  them. 

I  sometimes  wonder  why,  of  all  men  in  the  world,  he 
who  deals  with  material  substances,  and  knows  by  daily 
experience  that  he  cannot  bring  them  into  his  service  in 
any  other  way  than  by  learning  their  secrets  and  obeying 
their  laws,  should  not  see  that  the  same  principle  must  rule 
in  mind  as  well  as  in  matter,  and  should  not  seek  with  the 
/  same  keen  interest  and  docile  spirit  to  know  the  laws  of 
those  all-pervading  and  awful  forces,  and  by  obedience  bring 
himself  into  such  intimate  and  friendly  relations  with  them 
that  they  will  work  with  him  and  for  him  in  attaining  his 
highest  good.  Every  day  he  goes  to  school  to  this  great 
and  wise  teacher ;  every  hour  he  must  practise  this  great- 
est and  most  important  of  all  lessons,  that  no  step  can  be 
taken  and  no  reward  can  be  gained  but  in  the  way  of  obe- 
dience to  immutable  law.  Some  day,  when  men  take  the 
laws  of  infinite  wisdom,  instead  of  the  opinions  of  fallible 
men,  for  their  guide,  they  will  learn  this  lesson  and  reap 
its  immeasurable  rewards. 

But  I  must  pass  on  to  notice  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant human  qualities  that  grow  out  of  this  root  prin- 
ciple of  obedience.  Natural  substances,  and  the  laws 
which  govern  their  relations,  their  likes  and  dislikes,  do 
not  lie  upon  the  surface,  open  to  indifference  and  careless 
observation.  They  lie  hidden  under  the  veil  of  appear- 
ances.   They  will  be  sought  out  and  wooed  before  they  can 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE.  9 


be  won.  They  demand  close,  accurate,  and  patient  obser- 
vation ;  only  a  penetrating  sagacity  can  see  their  real 
nature  beneath  the  thin  and  alluring  veil  of  appearances. 
It  is  wonderful  how  long  it  has  taken  men  to  discover 
some  of  the  simplest,  plainest,  and  most  important  forces. 
When  discovered,  the  world  exclaims,  Why  did  we  not  see 
that  before  ?  Steam,  that  giant  power,  which  is  now  doing 
the  work  of  the  world,  spread  its  white  banner  and  sung 
its  secret  at  every  fireside  for  centuries  before  men  had 
the  slightest  conception  of  its  nature  and  use.  You  all 
know  the  story  of  Franklin  and  his  kite.  That  force, 
which  filled  the  clouds  with  flame,  terrified  men  with  its 
thunder,  and  seemed  to  be  subject  to  no  law,  now  lights 
our  streets  and  stores,  and,  with  clear  and  steady  radiance, 
will  soon  turn  night  into  day  and  winter  into  summer,  in 
our  dwellings ;  it  will  cook  our  food  and  serve  us  in  the 
most  patient  and  gentle  manner. 

These  are  examples  of  the  mighty  forces  in  which  we 
move  and  by  which  we  are  penetrated,  that  pique  our  curi- 
osity, call  our  slumbering  faculties  to  awake  from  their 
stupor,  and  prepare  the  way  for  their  coming  to  our  help. 
They  pass  before  us,  though  we  see  them  not ;  they  touch 
us  on  every  side,  though  we  feel  them  not ;  they  call  to  us 
in  the  many-toned  voices  of  wind  and  stream  and  wave, 
though  we  hear  them  not.  But  those  who  are  dealing 
with  the  substances  and  forces  of  nature  are  more  directly 
in  the  way  of  their  influence.  They  are  being  educated 
by  their  daily  employments  to  iook  for  treasures  and  help 
in  the  unexplored  realms  that  lie  around  them,  and  to 
devise  practical  methods  of  bringing  them  into  human 
service. 

Mechanical  employments  give  full  scope  for  the  exercise 


10  MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 

and  training  of  all  the  intellectual  faculties.  There  is,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  widest  and  most  charming  field  for  ob- 
servation and  the  exercise  of  the  keenest  sagacity.  The 
artisan  does  not  deal  in  abstractions,  but  in  substances  that 
can  be  seen  and  felt,  and  are  subject  to  laws  which  he  must 
learn  and  obey.  His  rational  faculties  are  constantly  called 
into  exercise  and  trained  by  observing  the  relations  that 
exist  between  various  forms  and  substance^  and  the  adapta- 
tion of  means  to  secure  the  end  he  seeks.  Judgment  formed 
by  immutable  laws  must  be  exercised  with  regard  to  the  na- 
ture, strength,  form,  and  combination  of  the  materials  he 
uses.  In  some  employments  there  is  the  largest  room  for 
the  exercise  of  taste  and  fancy  and  invention  in  the  forms 
the  workman  proposes  to  create. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  mechanical  mechanics  as  well  as 
intelligent  and  skilful  ones.  And  the  former,  doubtless, 
vastly  outnumber  the  latter.  But  this  is  true  of  men  in 
every  employment.  There  are  mechanical  merchants  and 
lawyers  and  doctors  and  ministers.  They  learn  by  rote, 
and  they  buy  and  sell,  plead  and  practise  and  preach  by 
rote.  There  are  very  few  men  and  women  who  think  for 
themselves.  The  majority  follow  the  beaten  path  with 
\  the  exercise  of  just  mind  enough  to  keep  in  it. 

But  I  am  speaking  of  the  tendency  and  scope  of  employ- 
ments to  call  the  intellectual  faculties  into  action,  and  they 
seem  to  me  to  be  greatly  in  favor  of  the  mechanic.  I  am 
aware  that  this  is  not  the  prevalent  opinion.  There  are 
many  causes  that  have  operated  against  a  true  appreciation 
of  the  influence  and  value  of  his  work  upon  his  intelligence 
and  character.  He  does  not  come  so  fully  into  public  notice 
and  under  such  attractive  forms  as  the  artist,  the  poet,  and 
the  member  of  the  so-called  learned  professions.    He  does 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE, 


11 


not  wear  so  fine  garments,  may  not  have  polish  and  grace 
of  manner,  is  not  gifted  with  power  of  speech.  His  hands 
may  be  hard  by  the  use  of  his  tools,  and  soiled  with  the 
substances  he  uses.  His  knowledge  is  not  in  his  tongue 
but  in  his  hands ;  his  grace  is  not  in  courtesy  of  manners, 
but  in  the  deftness  and  skill  with  which  he  uses  his  tools. 
He  is  at  a  constant  disadvantage  when  judged  by  the  com- 
mon and  factitious  standards.  But  when  measured  by  the 
only  true  standard, — that  of  use, — his  employment  and  the 
results  of  it  in  gaining  and  expressing  intelligence  will  not 
be  found  wanting  in  any  essential  respect. 

Take  expression  of  his  intelligence  and  worth  as  an  ex- 
ample. He  embodies  his  thought  and,  if  he  is  a  good 
man,  his  affection  in  his  work  rather  than  in  his  words. 
He  learns  by  practice,  and  he  learns  much  more  than  is 
generally  supposed.  It  requires  more  thought  and  skill 
to  drive  a  nail  without  splitting  the  wood  or  marring  its 
surface,  or  to  saw  a  board,  or  last  a  shoe,  than  most  men 
possess.  These  are  small  and  common  things,  and  do  not 
arrest  attention.  But  look  at  the  results  of  mechanical 
labor  and  invention.  The  amount  of  patient  thought,  of 
varied  knowledge,  of  skill  in  handling  materials,  and  of 
profound  intelligence  is  simply  amazing.  Take  a  common 
needle,  and  compare  it  with  the  crude  ore  in  the  hills.  Is 
it  not  the  embodiment  of  a  vast  amount  of  thought  and 
intelligence  of  the  highest  kind?  How  many  discoveries 
had  to  be  made  that  required  long,  acute,  and  patient 
thought  before  its  substance  was  fit  for  its  use!  How 
many  inventions  must  be  devised  before  its  form  could  be 
determined,  its  surface  polished,  its  point  sharpened,  its 
eye  drilled  and  made  smooth  to  carry  the  thread  without 
friction !    Has  any  young  lady  who  uses  the  needle  as 


12 


MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 


much  intelligence  as  is  embodied  in  it?  Is  there  any 
poem  or  novel  that  is  the  expression  of  as  much  thought 
that  contributes  in  so  many  large  and  useful  ways  to 
human  comfort  and  use?  How  little  we  think  of  this 
little  common  household  necessity, — how  much  of  the 
poem  and  romance  !  When  you  clothe  yourself  with  an 
elegant  silk,  do  you  ever  think  of  the  worm  that  spun  it 
for  you, — how  much  observation,  how  much  knowledge 
of  material  substances,  how  many  inventions,  and  how 
much  skilful  and  delicate  handling  were  necessary  to  make 
and  dye  the  beautiful  fabric  ? 

But  these  are  simple  processes  compared  with  many  others 
which  are  familiar  to  every  one.  The  steam-engine,  in  its 
development  from  its  first  inception  in  the  tea-kettle  to 
its  present  perfected  form,  and  in  its  varied  adaptations  to 
human  needs,  is  the  embodiment  of  more  than  a  century 
of  observation,  of  experiment,  and  patient  thought.  Suc- 
cess in  doing  its  work  depends  upon  the  most  accurate 
adjustment  of  all  its  parts,  upon  the  orderly  arrangement 
and  combination  of  many  diverse  forms,  a  knowledge  of 
the  elasticity,  the  rigidity,  and  the  special  nature  of  solids, 
the  strength  of  fire  and  water  and  steam,  of  force  and 
resistance.  Every  substance  in  the  kingdoms  of  nature, 
every  science,  every  art,  every  device  of  human  ingenuity, 
every  touch  of  human  skill,  has  contributed,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  its  perfection.  It  is  a  monument  grander 
in  its  proportions  and  more  noble  in  its  forms,  when  re- 
garded from  human  use,  than  the  pyramids  or  any  mauso- 
leum of  past  ages.  It  is  alive  with  human  affection,  it  is 
active  in  human  service. 

We  have  only  the  most  inadequate  conception  of  the 
difficulties  that  have  been  overcome,  of  the  multitude  of 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE.  13 


experiments  that  have  been  tried,  of  the  days  and  nights 
of  protracted  and  laborious  thought  that  have  been  given 
to  it,  of  the  failures  and  disappointments  and  the  immense 
sums  of  money  that  have  been  expended  in  perfecting  it. 
When  the  first  Baldwin  locomotive  was  successfully  com- 
pleted, an  advertisement  appeared  in  a  morning  paper 
saying  that  it  would  make  regular  trips  to  Germantown  in 
fair  weather.  If  it  rained,  horses  would  draw  the  cars  as 
usual.  We  may  infer  from  this  that  the  first  locomotive 
was  like  many  Christians,  of  use  only  in  fair  weather. 
What  a  change  from  then  to  the  present!  And  this 
change  has  been  efi'ected  by  the  knowledge  of  many  sciences 
and  its  application  to  a  specific  purpose. 

We  overlook  the  knowledge,  the  labor,  the  thought,  the 
o-enius  embodied  in  common  and  useful  forms,  and  the 
more  common  and  useful,  the  less  they  attract  our  notice, 
while  we  regard  with  admiration  and  delight  a  picture  or  a 
poem.  But  there  is  more  knowledge,  more  genius,  more 
wisdom,  more  thought  expressed  in  forms  specially  adapted 
to  human  use,  comfort,  and  progress  in  a  steamship  than  in 
all  the  pictures  ever  painted  and  all  the  poems  ever  penned. 
I  know  what  a  dreadful  heresy  this  statement  is.  I  am  not 
insensible  to  the  use  and  glory  of  art  and  song.  They 
have  been,  and  are,  a  means  of  culture  and  ennobling  joy  to 
me.  But  compare  Tennyson,  Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  Byron, 
Milton,  and  Shakspeare,  with  Arkwright,  Watt,  Fulton, 
Fitch,  Whitney,  the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin,  and  Morse. 
Who  have  expressed  the  most  thought  in  forms  adapted  to 
human  use?  Who  have  discovered  the  most  precious 
secrets  of  nature,  and  brought  her  hidden  forces  into  human 
service  ?  Whose  labors  could  we  dispense  with  at  the  least 
detriment  to  human  progress  and  the  communion  of  mind 


14 


MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENTS  AS 


with  mind?  Books  are  invaluable  in  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge.  Science  and  art  cannot  be  overestimated. 
But  books  are  the  record  of  what  men  have  done  ;  and 
which  is  the  nobler  service,  to  do  the  deed  or  to  record  it  ? 
Science  itself  is  largely  indebted  to  mechanical  inventions 
for  the  means  of  its  investigations  and  discoveries.  What 
progress  could  science  have  made  without  the  telescope,  the 
microscope,  the  compass,  the  apparatus  of  the  laboratory  ? 
It  is  not  that  I  value  science  and  literature  less,  but  me- 
chanical employments  and  genius  more,  that  I  give  them 
so  high  a  place  in  human  progress  and  culture. 

A  just  comparison  of  results  and  the  means  of  attaining 
them  will  show  that  there  are  no  employments  in  which 
men  engage,  considering  them  in  all  their  bearing  and  re- 
lations, that  are  better  adapted  to  awaken  curiosity,  to 
cultivate  accurate  observation,  to  discipline  the  reason,  to 
stimulate  thought  and  direct  it  to  noble  ends,  to  elevate 
the  taste,  to  cherish  a  love  for  the  accurate,  the  beautiful 
and  noble  in  form,  to  establish  and  cultivate  the  judgment, 
and  to  call  all  the  intellectual  faculties  into  harmonious 
and  useful  exercise,  than  the  mechanical  employments. 

But  the  intellectual  are  not  the  noblest  and  most  precious 
human  faculties.  Man  was  made  not  only  to  know  but  to 
love.  He  has  affections  as  well  as  intelligence,  on  whose 
control  and  wise  exercise  depends  his  happiness  far  more 
than  his  knowledge.  "  Man,"  says  Swedenborg,  is  a  form 
of  use,  and  every  one  becomes  human  according  to  the 
extent  and  quality  of  his  use."  In  the  final  decision, 
"Every  one,"  says  our  Lord,  "will  be  judged  by  his 
works."  Is  there  any  employment  that  leads  more  directly 
to  a  useful  life  than  that  of  the  mechanic,  and  in  itself 
better  calculated  to  call  out  his  love  for  others  ?  Every- 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE. 


15 


thing  he  puts  his  hand  to  is  a  form  of  use.  His  work 
constantly  reminds  him  of  his  brother's  wants,  and  he  has 
the  satisfi\ction  of  knowing  that  every  day  and  every  hour 
he  is  doing  something  for  the  good  of  humanity.  If  he 
is  making  a  pin,  or  forging  the  shaft  for  an  engine,  making 
a  shoe  or  a  garment,  weaving  a  carpet,  or  building  a  house, 
he  is  supplying  human  wants ;  he  is  contributing  to  human 
comfort ;  he  is  helping  others  to  do  their  work ;  he  is 
carrying  them  on  their  journeys;  bringing  minds  and 
hearts  into  communion  ;  he  is  providing  facilities  for  in- 
structing the  ignorant,  lending  a  helping  hand  to  the  ex- 
plorer into  new  realms  of  thought.  He  helps  the  scientist 
to  look  in  upon  the  remote  worlds,  and  to  examine  the 
infinitesimal  forms  of  minerals  and  animal  organisms.  He 
lights  and  warms  and  adorns  our  dwellings,  brings  water  to 
our  hand,  and  multiplies  all  the  conveniences  of  domestic 
and  social  life.  He  can  see  that  he  is  performing  these 
essential  uses.  His  work  is  not  aimless  ;  it  is  direct,  spe- 
cific. Every  stroke  tells.  Is  there  any  other  employment 
better  calculated  to  call  all  the  noble  affections  into  play  ? 

The  artisan  stands  between  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  and  the  crude  materials  embodied  in  the  three  king- 
doms of  nature,  and  by  the  magic  of  his  skill  they  are 
transformed  into  means  serviceable  for  use.  The  wood  in 
the  forest,  the  marble  in  the  quarry,  the  clay  in  the  bank, 
the  metal  in  the  mine  pass  through  his  hands,  take  on  the 
form  of  his  thought,  become  arranged  by  his  intelligence, 
and  the  product  is  the  modern  dwelling.  Is  there  any 
fancy  in  fairy  tale  more  wonderful  than  this  ?  By  the  skill 
of  the  tanner  and  the  shoemaker  the  raw  skin  is  trans- 
formed into  the  useful  shoe.  Do  you  ever  think  of  your 
indebtedness  to  these  humble  toilers  for  your  protection 


16  MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENT  AS 


and  comfort  ?  Do  they  ever  think  of  the  service  they 
are  rendering  you  ? — a  service  which  cannot  be  compen- 
sated by  dollars  and  cents.  The  jewels  which  sparkle  in 
royal  crowns  and  add  lustre  to  queenly  beauty,  the  silks 
and  precious  stuffs  which  clothe  and  give  new  charms  to 
the  loveliness  of  woman,  owe  their  beauty,  their  lustre, 
their  value  to  the  artisan.  He  stands  between  the  worm, 
the  mine,  and  the  wearer,  and  by  the  transforming  power 
of  his  skill  and  patient  labor  they  become  robes  of  beauty 
and  gems  of  light.  But  of  far  greater  importance  is  the 
service  he  is  rendering  to  our  common  humanity.  He 
takes  the  materials  which  our  Heavenly  Father  has  pro- 
vided in  such  abundance,  puts  his  thought,  his  intelligence, 
and  he  has  every  conceivable  motive  for  putting  his  love 
and  good  will  toward  men,  into  them  and  passing  them  on 
as  tokens  of  his  love  and  fidelity  to  human  good.  Every- 
thing he  touches  becomes  a  message  not  only  of  his 
knowledge  and  his  skill,  but  a  fit  embodiment  of  his  regard 
for  his  fellow-man. 

Thus  the  artisan  in  every  employment  has  the  most 
ample  means,  facilities,  and  motives  for  the  development 
of  every  human  faculty.  His  work,  his  position  in  the 
social  fabric,  call  upon  him  for  obedience,  skill,  intelli- 
gence, patience,  fidelity,  generosity,  and  beneficence.  It 
gives  him  opportunities  for  the  exercise  of  unselfish  and 
noble  affections, — for  constant  practice  in  the  two  funda- 
mental laws  of  heavenly  life,  love  to  God  and  man.  I 
am  fully  aware  that  this  is  not  the  central  motive 
which  the  great  majority  of  mechanics  or  workmen  in  any 
other  field  of  human  industry  put  into  their  work.  And 
this  is  the  saddest  and  most  hopeless  fact  in  their  condi- 
tion.   They  estimate  their  work,  as  do  those  who  engage 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE,  17 

in  trade  atid  commerce,  and  in  the  professions  of  law,  medi- 
cine, and  theology,  by  the  wages  they  receive.  Thus  their 
employment  is  only  the  means  of  supplying  their  material 
wants,  and  gaining  social  position,  when  it  should  be  re- 
garded and  prized  for  the  means  it  supplies  of  improving 
their  own  natures,  of  becoming  more  intelligent  and  nobler 
men.  I  do  not  say  that  wages  are  to  be  ignored.  I  know 
they  cannot  and  ought  not  to  be.  I  wish  they  were  larger, 
and  they  will  be  when  the  workman  becomes  a  larger  and 
a  better  man.  I  desire  to  show  how  we  can  get  something 
more  valuable  than  money  for  work.  If  I  could  tell  the 
mechanics  of  this  city  how  they  could  add  fifty,  or  even 
ten,  per  cent,  to  their  wages,  there  is  no  house  large 
enough  to  give  standing  room  to  those  who  would  crowd 
to  hear.  I  cannot  do  this ;  but  I  can  tell  them  how  to  get 
something  of  more  precious  value ;  a  prize  that  is  within 
the  reach  of  all ;  a  compensation  that  will  not  add  to  their 
labor,  but  will  lighten  it ;  a  reward  of  which  neither  employer, 
nor  hard  times,  nor  sickness,  nor  even  death  itself  can  de- 
prive them.  I  can  tell  them  how  to  secure  an  honor  and 
gain  a  position  that  no  amount  of  wealth  can  confer  upon 
them.  It  is  an  honor  which  man  can  neither  give  nor 
withhold.  It  is  a  nobility  that  cannot  be  measured  by  the 
changing  standards  of  man's  fallible  judgment,  which  is 
gained  and  can  only  be  gained,  by  doing  noble  work,  and 
that  we  always  do  when  we  labor  with  noble  motives. 
The  Divine,  and,  consequently,  the  perfect,  standard  of 
noble  work  that  can  never  fail  of  adequate  reward,  is 
use  performed  with  the  purpose  of  being  useful. 

The  standards  of  human  selfishness  and  greed  must  be  and 
will  be  reversed.  Is  not  producing  food  as  worthy  a  vocation 
as  consuming  it  ?   Is  not  making  a  garment  more  honorable 


18 


MECHANICAL  EMPLOYMENT  AS 


than  wearing  it  ?  Is  not  building  a  house  a  higher  attain- 
ment than  living  in  it?  spinning  and  weaving  cloth  a  more 
useful  employment  than  wearing  it  ?  constructing  an  engine 
and  a  palace-car  a  greater  work  than  riding  in  it  ?  Is  not 
creating  nobler,  wiser,  worthier  than  destroying  ?  In  a  word, 
service  is  a  higher  and  a  more  honorable  position  than  being 
served.  To  learn,  to  work,  to  live  from  love  to  God  and 
man,  is  the  highest  human  attainment,  and  will  receive  the 
\  largest,  the  most  honorable,  and  the  most  precious  rewards. 
There  is  no  employment  better  adapted  to  secure  these  re- 
wards than  taking  materials  which  our  Heavenly  Father 
has  provided  in  the  greatest  variety  and  abundance,  and, 
with  patient  labor  and  our  utmost  skill,  moulding  them 
into  forms  adapted  to  human  wants  and  human  use. 

I  am  aware  that  by  mere  force  of  will  we  cannot,  at 
once  and  permanently,  put  ourselves  under  the  control  of 
these  unselfish,  noble,  and  ennobling  motives.  The  neces- 
sities of  providing  food,  clothing,  and  a  home  for  ourselves 
and  others  press  upon  us,  and  the  means  of  supplying 
them  seem  to  be  the  only  real  reward  of  our  work.  It  is  the 
first  in  the  order  of  time,  and  it  requires  some  reflection, 
some  looking  before  and  after,  to  see  that  it  is  not  the  first 
in  importance,— that  it  is  not,  indeed,  the  only  reward  we 
can  obtain  for  our  labor.  The  love  of  the  world  is  also 
clamorous  for  its  rights,  and  asserts  its  claims  for  recog- 
nition and  immediate  gratification.  The  natural  reward 
appeals  to  the  senses ;  it  is  something  we  can  understand 
and  appreciate.  It  is  what  we  are  getting,  rather  than 
what  we  are  giving,  that  absorbs  our  attention.  How, 
then,  can  we  think  of  others  while  engaged  in  our  work? 

It  is  not  as  difficult  as  it  seems.    There  are  very  few 
persons  who  are  so  selfish  that  it  does  not  give  them  pleas- 


MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE. 


19 


ure  to  render  to  others  a  service  in  some  form,  especially 
if  it  does  not  cost  them  anything.  There  is  a  "  luxury  in 
doing  good,"  and  multitudes  dream  of  the  good  they  would 
do  if  they  had  abundant  means.  But  it  is  a  luxury  in 
which  every  one  can  indulge.  It  does  not  require  leisure 
or  a  large  income ;  it  only  requires  doing  hone^^t  work  from 
regard  to  the  good  of  others.  Every  mechanic,  and  every 
one  who  is  engaged  in  any  useful  employment,  can  think 
of  the  use  he  is  rendering  others  by  his  work,  and  can  do 
it  from  regard  to  others.  Take  the  miner  as  an  example. 
While  he  is  digging  coal  in  the  chambers  of  the  hills  he 
can  think  of  the  comfort  and  blessing  that  coal  will  be  to 
others.  It  will  warm  their  dwellings  and  fill  them  with 
light.  It  will  be  a  blessing  to  the  poor  and  the  rich ;  it 
will  be  a  comfort  to  the  workman  in  his  shop,  to  the  clerk 
in  the  store  and  office,  to  the  little  children  in  every  home. 
Why  cannot  he  think  of  these  things,  as  well  as  of  how 
many  cents  he  will  receive  for  every  ton  of  coal  he  mines  ? 
Wherein  lies  the  difficulty?  It  will  not  diminish  his 
strength,  it  will  not  take  a  cent  from  his  wages.  On  the 
contrary,  it  will  warm  his  heart  and  fill  it  with  peace.  It 
will  give  him  the  happiness  of  feeling  and  knowing  that 
he  is  of  some  use  in  the  world ;  that  he  is  contributing  to 
human  well-bemg.  The  same  principle  applies  to  every 
employment,  however  obscure  and  humble  it  may  be. 

It  will  require  some  efi'ort  at  first  to  change  the  purpose 
from  a  selfish  to  an  unselfish  one,  and  to  turn  the  thought 
away  from  ourselves  to  others.  But  a  little  patient  prac- 
tice will  enable  every  one  to  do  it,  and  it  will  become  less 
difficult  the  more  it  is  practised.  It  will  become  habitual, 
and  it  will  change  the  whole  current  of  thought ;  it  will 
introduce  the  workman  into  a  new  world  ;  it  will  put  joy 


20  MEANS  OF  HUMAN  CULTURE. 


into  his  heart  and  light  into  his  understanding,  and  skill 
into  his  hands.  It  will  gradually  extend  to  all  his  relations 
to  others.  It  will  make  him  a  better  and  wiser  man.  He 
will  be  attaining  the  true  and  the  highest  success. 


P  H  I  T.  A  D  E  T.  P  H  I  A  : 

NEW  CHURCH  TRACT  AND  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 
Twenty-Skconj)  and  Chestnut  Streets, 
NEW  lORK:  E.  H.  SWINNEY,  No.  20  COOPER  UNION. 
BOSTON:  MASSACHUSETTS  NEW  CHURCH  UNION,  169  TREMONT  STREET. 


Printed  by  J.  B,  Lippincott  &  Co.,  Philadelphia. 


ors,  A.O  TS 

PUBLISHED  BY 

The  Aierican  New  GMrcli  Tract  anti  PnWication  Society. 

SERMONS  AND  DOCTRINAL  LECTURES. 

By  Rev.  Chauneey  Giles. 
The  following  Sermons  and  Doctrinal  Lectures  by  Rev.  Chauneey  Giles 
have  been  issued  in  tract  form  by  the  American  New  Church  Tract  and  Pub- 
lication Society.    They  are  neatly  printed  on  fine  paper,  and  are  alike  in  style 
and  appearance,  the  number  of  pages  varying  from  i6  to  24. 


DOCTRINAL 


No. 


Who  Was  Jesus  Christ? 
How  Does  the  Lord  Save  Men? 
The  Sufferings  and  Death  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  Saving  Efficacy  of  the  Lord's 

Blood. 
The  Punishment  of  Sin. 
The  Forgiveness  of  Sin. 
Purification  from  Sin  Illustrated 

by  the  Refining  of  Gold  and 

Silver. 

The  New  and  Old  Atonement. 
Union  with  the  Lord :  Its  Nature, 

Means,  and  Blessedness. 
The  Spiritual  Wants  of  the  Age. 
The  True  Idea  of  God. 
The  True  Idea  of  Man. 


LECTURES. 

No. 

13.  The  Spiritual  World. 

14.  The  World  of  Spirits,  or  Interme- 

diate State. 

15.  The  World  of  Spirits  the  Place  of 

Man's  Finai  Judgment. 

16.  The  World  of  Spirits  as  a  Place 

(or  State)  cl  Instruction  and 
Preparation  or  Heaven. 

17.  Hell:  Its  Orig  n  and  Nature. 

18.  The  Sufferings  of  the  Wicked. 

19.  The  Sufferings  of  the  Wicked.  Are 

they  Etema^? 

20.  Heaven :  What  it  is.    Where  and 

How  Formed. 

21.  The  Happiness  of  Heaven. 

22.  Heavenly    Happiness  :  Endle.«>s 

and  Ever  Increasing. 


No. 


SERMONS. 
No. 


1.  The  Light  of  the  World. 

2.  The    Elements    of  a  Heavenly 

Character. 

3.  Love :   The  Light  and  Joy  of 

Life. 

4.  Onyx  Stones  ;  or, The  Book  of  Life. 

5.  The  Widow's  Pot  of  Oil. 

6.  The  Coming  of  the  New  Age. 

7.  Rest  for  the  Weary  and  Heavy 

Laden. 

8.  The  Ministry  of  Fear. 

9.  What  is  Evangelical  Religion  ? 
10.  The  Conquest  over  Evil  by  Little 

and  Little, 
n.  Modern  Unbelief :  Its  Cause,  Na- 
ture, and  Remedy. 
X2.  The  Resurrection  of  the  Lord. 
13.  The  Laws  of  Ascent  from  a  Nat- 
ural to  a  Heavenly  Life. 


14.  Unity  Among  Brethren:  Its  Ori- 

gin, Means,  and  Effects. 

15.  The  Doctrines  of  the  New  Church, 

the  Measure  of  a  Man. 

16.  The  Death  of  the  Body  a  Ministry 

of  Life  to  the  Soul. 

17.  The  Divine  Providence  in  Na- 

tional Affairs. 

18.  Efficacious   Prayer:  The  Condi- 

tions on  which  it  is  Answered. 

19.  The  Nature  and  Use  of  Prayer. 

20.  Love  to  the  Lord.    What  it  is  and 

how  manifested. 

21.  The  Church  of  the  Future. 

22.  The  Law  of  Heavenly  Reward. 

23.  Man's  Immeasurable  Capacity  to 

Love,  to  Know,  and  to  Enjoy. 

24.  The  Incarnation:   Its  Necessity, 

Nature,  and  Effects. 


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copies.  For  sale  at  the  "New  Church  Book-Room,"  corner  Chestnut  and 
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New  York.  Missionaries  supplied  without  charge  from  either  Philadelphia  or 
New  York. 

A  liberal  discount  is  made  to  Societies,  Associations,  and  individuals,  who 
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fk  Afflerican  Kew  CMrcli  Tract  and  Pilicatioa  Society. 

REVISED  SERIES  OF  TRACTS. 


1.  Brief  Statement  of  the  Doctrines 

of  the  New  Church,  by  Rev.  B. 
F.  Barrett. 

2.  The  Church  of  the  New  Jerusa- 

lem, by  Rev.  C.  Giles. 

3.  The  Resurrection  and  the  Spirit- 

ual World, 

4.  The  Doctrine  of  Substitution,  by 

John  Hyde. 

5.  The  Ministry  of  Sorrow,  by  Rev. 

C.  Giles. 

6.  Is  it  Unreasonable?    An  Appeal 

in  Behalf  of  the  Doctrines  of 
the  New  Church. 

7.  The  Apparent  Contradictions  of 

the  Sacred  Scriptures  Recon- 
ciled, by  Rev.  C.  Giles. 

8.  Death  the  Gate  of  Life. 

9.  The  Apocalyptic  Jerusalem. 

10.  The   Life  After  Death.  From 

Swedenborg. 

11.  What  is  Heaven?   From  Sweden- 

borg. 

12.  The  Anger  of  the  Lord.    How  is 

such  Scripture  Phraseology  to 
be  Explained? 

13.  The  Way  to  Heaven. 

14.  The  Sacred  Scripture.    Its  own 

answer  to  the  question :  Has  it 
a  Spiritual  Sense? 

15.  Infants  in  Heaven.    From  Swe- 

denborg. 

16.  The  Corner-Stone. 

17.  Concerning'the  Sacred  Scriptures, 

or  the  Word  of  God.  By  Em- 
anuel Swedenborg. 


No. 

18.  Popular  View  of  the  Atonement. 

19.  The  Great  Reconciliation. 

20.  Washing  our  Spiritual  Robes,  by 

Rev.  Oliver  Dyer. 

21.  Who  is  our  Neighbor?  From 

Swedenborg. 

22.  What  is  it  to  Die  ?  From  Sweden- 

borg. 

23.  No  Heaven  Without  Work,  by 

Rev.  C.  Giles. 

24.  Children  After  Death. 

25.  Evolution  and  Natural  Selection 

in  the  Light  of  the  New 
Church. 

26.  The  Resurrection. 

27.  The  New  Church  and  Spiritism, 

by  Rev.  C.  Giles. 

28.  Judgment  and  the  World  of  Spir- 

its, by  Rev.  E.  A.  Beaman. 

29.  The  Lord's  Name  in  our  Fore- 

heads, by  Rev.  Oliver  Dyer. 

30.  Predestination,     by     Rev.  C. 

Giles. 

31.  Regeneration. 

32.  What  Must  We  Do  to  be  Saved? 

by  Rev.  C.  Giles. 

33.  Reasons  for  Embracing  the  Doc- 

trines of  the  New  Church,  by 
Rev.  Thos-  A.  King. 

34.  Prayer:  the  Philosophy  of  it,  the 

Religion  of  it,  and  the  Use  of 
it.    By  Rev.  Oliver  Dyer. 

35.  Can  Murderers  be  Saved?  By 

Rev.  E.  A.  Beaman. 


When  ordered  singly,  the  price  of  these  tracts  is  2  cents  each,  without  re- 
gard to  the  number  of  pages ;  50  copies,  75  cents  ;  100  copies,  $1.25.  If  ordered 
by  mail,  add  10  cents  for  every  50  copies.  For  sale  at  the  "New  Church  Book- 
Room,"  corner  of  Chestnut  and  Twenty-second  Streets,  Philadelphia,  or  by 
E.  H.  Swinney,  20  Cooper  Union,  New  York.  Missionaries  supplied  without 
charge  from  either  Philadelphia  or  New  York. 

A  liberal  discount  is  made  to  Societies,  Associations,  and  individuals,  who 
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for  this  purpose,  send  to  Philadelphia  Book-Room. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

The  American  Net  CMrcli  Tract  anil  Pnlcation  Society. 


DISCOURSES  ON  PRAYER. 

By  Rev.  Chauncey  Giles. 


No. 

1.  Hypocritical  and  Vain  Prayer. 

2.  Conditions  and  Nature  of  Genuine 

Prayer. 

3.  The  Proper  Object  of  Worship. 

4.  Hallowing  the  Lord's  Name. 

5.  The  Lord's  Kingdom :  What  it  is  : 

How  to  Pray  for  it. 

6.  Doing  the  Lord's  Will  in  the  Earth 

as  in  Heaven. 


No. 

7.  Daily  Bread :  What  it  is ;  How  to 

Pray  for  it. 

8.  The  Forgiveness  of  Sin. 

9.  Temptation. 

10.  Deliverance  from  Evil:  What  it 

is,  and  How  Effected. 

11.  The  Lord's  Kingdom,  Power,  and 

Glory. 

12.  Summary  View  of  the  Lord's 

Prayer. 


SERMONS. 

By  Rev.  James  Reed. 


No. 

1.  The  Irrationality  of  Skepticism. 

2.  Preserve  the  Foundations. 

3.  The  Lesson  of  the  Harvest. 

4.  Faith  and  Prayer. 

5.  The  Divine  Humanity. 

6.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Glorified. 

7.  The  Lord's  Care  for  the  Little  Ones . 

8.  The  Value  of  True  Doctrine. 

9.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Lord  in  its 

Relation  to  Life. 


No. 

10.  The  Doctrine  of  Providence  in  its 

Relation  to  Life. 

11.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 

tures in  its  Relation  to  Life. 

12.  The  Doctrine  of  Faith  in  its  Re- 

lation to  Life. 

13.  The  Duty  of  Shunning  Evils  as 

Sins  against  God. 


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